Lanterns in the dark
by Tartarun
Summary: Naruto doesn't know how he got in the past or even why. But what he does know is that he won't let the same tragedies act out again, and he'll get on the case as soon as he can shake off his incredibly observant sensei and figure out how and when things started going wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**This is me seeing if I can write a time travel fic where Naruto isn't super with a few weeks training and he has to work hard all over again. I don't own Naruto but hey I'll start work on that project in a few weeks. Reviews make me happy! And more inclined to write! *hint hint. Seriously though I'd appreciate any criticisms you can give to make the story better.**

Steel chimed off steel in a shower of sparks. Naruto came to his senses just as a shuriken cut into the tree he was standing on and scrambled away before he lost a limb. What was going on? And why didn't he sense it coming before? He landed on a branch on a tree nearby and subconsciously tried to apply chakra to stick to it. Instead he gained a new appreciation of exploding tags as the wood underneath his sandals exploded with the force of a small bomb as he was sent crashing down onto the forest floor. Ok forest, he was in Konoha then. Nowhere else had the same mokuton enhanced trees. Voices cut in his thinking time, loud and furious.

"You saw those eyes earlier…those were the eyes of a demon."

What? Why did that voice sound so familiar? He hadn't heard that derogatory tone towards him for a while now. He pushed himself to his feet and crept towards the voices all the time trying to be stealthy. It was harder than he thought but he managed pretty well. A coppery scent was in the air; blood, he'd recognise that smell anywhere.

"Naruto…isn't like that!"

Iruka sensei? Naruto was completely baffled at this point. Oh this must be a genjutsu to knock him off his senses. Funny…Kurama usually broke all the genjutsus put on him, speaking of which. Where was the troublesome fox?

_Hello? _A deep rumbling growl reverberated through his stomach. Okay he was in a bad mood, best to leave him but that told Naruto it wasn't a genjutsu, Bee had told him as long as a Jinchuuriki could hear his biju and was friends with them, a genjutsu could not hold, he had tuned out to the explanation of why later on.

"Well, that doesn't really matter. I'll kill Naruto…and get the scroll. I'll take care of you later."

Oh someone was trying to kill him. He tried hard to be surprised, he really did but all he could feel was exasperation. He had other things to be worrying about than some wannabe assassin. If not genjutsu then what? Tsukuyomi? He was sure he'd remember running across Itachi, hold on didn't he die? Ehhh. Where was his assassin anyway? He couldn't be very good if they hadn't noticed Naruto eaves dropping on them. Oh where did Iruka sensei go? Damn his senses had deteriorated.

Time for Naruto to be reckless, he fondly imagined Sakura's imaginary reaction and leapt off to where he could hear a taijutsu brawl. Damn Iruka sensei wasn't bad at taijutsu in his head. It was his new theory, he was hallucinating.

Iruka ducked under Mebruki's punch before using his momentum against him to hurl him into a tree. Mebruki? Mizuki? Oh yeah Mizuki. Mizuki retaliated by drawing kunai and the two chunin had brawl too fast for Naruto's straining eyes to follow. Then Mizuki leapt away after he started losing ground. Iruka quickly henged into Naruto to his shock and started crashing around in the trees. Really? I thought Iruka sensei thought of me like that? I didn't think I thought so badly of myself Naruto sulked slightly. Then another Iruka burst through the trees and called to Iruka henged as Naruto.

"Hurry! Pass me the scroll, Mizuki is after it!" Iruka must be amused as hell Naruto thought idly as henged Iruka kicked fake Iruka so hard he created a small crater in a tree. Nice sensei!

"Why Naruto? How did you know I wasn't Iruka?" Mizuki dropped his henge. A foxy grin spread over henged Iruka's face and he dropped it.

"I'm Iruka!" Mizuki smirked in appreciation at the ploy, "I see…Hehehe you'd even transform into what killed your parents to protect him?"

His hallucination was eerily accurate and detailed Naruto noticed with a frown.

"I won't hand the scroll over to an idiot like you!"

"You're the idiot. Naruto and I are the same." Naruto hadn't realised how much of an idiot Mizuki was until that line and he had to work to suppress a snort. The same? Please.

Iruka looked confused, "The same?"

"If you use the skills in that scroll. You can do whatever you want." Also not true Naruto noted.

"There's no way that demon fox wouldn't try to use the power. Unlike what you're assuming…" …Why would Kurama even need Kage Bunshin, Edo Tensei and other forbidden jutsu? He could cause tsunamis with a flick of his tail. Human jutsus are beneath me he had told Naruto haughtily once.

"Yeah…" Wow he thought Iruka sensei thought that about Biju. He'd have to check after the war.

"The demon fox would do that." No he really wouldn't. "…But Naruto is different." Wrong way around sensei, it's Kurama who won't use forbidden jutsu, him on the other hand? Forbidden wasn't a word in his dictionary.

"He is… I've acknowledged him as…one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker and he's clumsy so nobody accepts him."

Naruto was a bit indignant at that. They didn't accept him because of the Kyuubi not because of his clumsiness!

He already knows what it is to feel pain in your heart. He isn't the demon fox anymore…"

He never was the demon fox! He shivered imagining Kurama's reaction being mistaken for him.

"He is a member of the hidden Leaf Village, he's…Uzumaki Naruto!" He felt the first sentimental tear come to his eye, Iruka was really sweet when he wasn't butchering facts.

Mizuki gritted his teeth, "Ok whatever…Iruka I said I would take care of you later, but I'm changing my mind. _Hurry up and die!_"

When had he interfered in the original happenings? Oh yeah now! He didn't feel like watching Iruka sensei die in his head. He kicked Mizuki out of his path with a well-aimed kick Sasuke would be proud of. He saw Iruka's stunned expression from the corner of his eye and felt a little smug.

"_You should not have done that..." _Mizuki snarled from where he lay. He shouldn't have done a lot of things, so he just shrugged off the comment.

"Don't touch Iruka sensei or I'll kill you." He told the downed Mizuki calmly. It was his efficient delivery of the line that shocked the two chunin. For a brief instance they saw the Fourth Ninja war reflected in his blue eyes but the moment passed.

"You idiot! Why did you come out?! Run away!" Iruka yelled.

"Shut up! Punk like you, I'll kill in one shot!" Mizuki laughed gleefully.

"Try it trash! I'll return the pain a thousand times over!" Naruto thought about his next move. While spamming clones was fun, it didn't always get the job done. It was a hallucination anyway, who cared about graduation criteria?

Mizuki smirked, "Then let me hold you on the same pedestal you do me! Naruto _prepare to die in front of your precious sensei!_"This hadn't happened last time! The hallucination wasn't drawing from his memories? But it felt so real!

Mizuki pulled out several kunai and sent them whizzing towards Naruto. _Kage kunai no jutsu!_

Iruka's eyes widened knowing the lethality of that jutsu and he tried to move to protect Naruto with a groan. A hundred kunai raced at Naruto who felt his head clear of any distractions. He wove the seals quickly and efficiently.

_Kawarimi._

Thunk!

The sound of a hundred kunai hitting their target reached Iruka's ears.

"Naruto!" he yelled in desperation.

Mizuki's smirk froze as he toppled over like a broken marionette in front of Iruka with his flak jacket peppered with bloody kunai. His glassy eyes stared back at Iruka's disbelievingly before a light flickered out. Iruka stared speechless. Kawarimi with a live being was difficult, especially at that distance. Naruto had now truly mastered both henge and Kawarimi. It was a good plan too he noted absentmindedly in the ninja part of his brain before his teacher part took over and started screaming about Naruto killing someone so early in his career. What if Naruto was jaded forever? What if he lost his smile? What if-

"Ah sorry sensei, the ANBU won't be able to interrogate him now." Naruto looked sheepish as he scratched his head by Mizuki's corpse. On second thoughts Naruto would be fine.

Iruka smiled, "Naruto, come over here. There's something I want to give you." He closed his eyes trustingly. This was Iruka after all. He felt a cool piece of cloth slide over his forehead and he opened his eyes.

"Congratulations…on graduating. Let's celebrate! I'll buy you a bowl of ramen." Iruka's scar crinkled as he smiled.

"But sensei…I still can't do a bunshin." Iruka tapped his nose, "You don't need the bunshin to become a ninja. That plan you pulled off is worthy of a field promotion to genin and anyway there are more useful versions of bunshin you can pick up from your jonin sensei."

Like Kage Bunshin Naruto thought slyly. He hugged his sensei around the ribs as hard as he could just because he hadn't been able to do it for a while before dragging Iruka back screaming about ramen. Now he had a good excuse to look for any irregularities in his hallucination. He was beginning to doubt it was one, he'd find out by the ramen flavour. No one could mimic Ichiraku's ramen!

…..

The next day he sat in front of his photographer with an incredibly fake smile which became more teeth than smile as the photographer took his sweet time. The ramen had been perfect. His apartment had been perfect. Everything had been perfect. Every single book he checked made sense, every single person he talked to matched their personalities. It wasn't a hallucination. No hallucination was that accurate. He hadn't even known some of the stuff he found out but since they fit in with his other knowledge he assumed it was true and not his mind making things up.

"Hey, you sure you want to look like that?"

"Yes." He hissed out of patience.

"Fine. Don't regret it. OK, cheese!"

CLICK. Finally!

"…" The Hokage stared at his ninja registration. He looked up to stare at Naruto who grinned cheekily back.

"….?" There was a distinct questioning note to his silence now.

"Like it Jiji? It took me forever to do it!"

"It's unique." The Hokage allowed. "Retake it!"

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't look a thing like you!"

"That was the point! I'm never going to be a super awesome ninja if someone kills me before I get good! That way no one can know who I am!" Naruto wailed. He was having fun trolling whatever and whoever was happening.

"You're meant to trust your own village." The Hokage puffed on his pipe dryly. "How will your Jonin sensei know about you? Or any future captains?"

"…Look underneath the underneath?" Naruto offered sheepishly. The Hokage smirked minutely at that.

"Well you're thinking like a ninja at last I suppose." The Hokage looked down at the picture. Stiff red hair framed a face which was pale white with no scars whatsoever. There was dark eyeliner around the grey eyes with a blue streak across the lips. It didn't look a thing like Naruto.

"Henge?"

"Of course Jiji!"

"Why red hair?"

"Uzumaki's have red hair dattebayo! I thought I'd pay homage!" Naruto's eyes twinkled mischievously. The Hokage stiffened slightly but let it go. He opened his mouth to say more but then the door creaked open and a boy younger than Naruto burst in screaming.

"Old man! Fight me!" He waved a steel shuriken before promptly tripping on his scarf and thankfully not landing on the weapon. A darkly dressed Jonin burst into the room seconds later as the Hokage sighed and gazed upwards for patience.

"Damn it! Who set a trap?!" The boy cried rubbing his head. Konohamaru Naruto thought fondly. His apprentice in all but name. Wow he was a brat at this age.

"Are you alright? And there isn't a trap anywhere!" The Jonin barked, Ebisu Naruto thought it was. He wasn't so bad, he had tried to defend Naruto's location with his life once. He looked at the contempt veiled on Ebisu's face and inwardly sighed, why couldn't the people have their after Pain invasion personalities, why did…they….fit…the relative…timeframe…? His thoughts trailed off in horror. Time travel?

"I knew it! You did something!" Konohamaru yelled at Naruto who was too much in shock to hear him properly.

"Huh you say something?" he blurted out on instinct. The Hokage and Ebisu sweat dropped. Kakashi's already influencing his future student without ever having met him the Hokage thought dryly, should he take this as they were meant to be teacher and student or ban Kakashi from reading porn around Naruto?

"You tripped me!" Konohamaru shrieked in Naruto's face who snapped out of it to glare back.

"Listen idiot. If I wanted to trip you there would be more of a humiliation involved on your part, Understand?"

"Don't talk to the Hokage's grandson like that!" Ebisu yelled. Would Ebisu have been his teacher is people knew he was the Fourth's son Naruto thought randomly?

"I'll talk to him how he deserves!" Naruto shot back at Ebisu before flicking Konohamaru hard in the forehead and walking out.

Later when he was furiously discussing the possibilities of time travel in his head he noticed Konohamaru following him incredibly obviously. He lived through a damn war, kind of, he had pretty good instincts by now. Thankfully they had transferred over even if his ability to react to his instincts was lacking. If it was time travel he wanted to make his first disciple inclined to be his disciple.

"You're not fooling anyone! What are you doing?!" He yelled at Konohamaru, his heart panging as he remembered how close the two of them had been.

"Hehe…Impressive to see through this…The rumours about you are true…" Konohamaru chuckled. He had rumours other than demon child?

"Hey I'll let you be my boss!" The kid looked like Naruto should be honoured but carried on none the less at Naruto's less than impressed look. "In exchange teach me the sexy no jutsu you defeated Grandpa with! Please!" He hugged Naruto around the knees and unleashed the devastating puppy dog eyes no jutsu. Naruto smirked recalling when he and Konohamaru had infiltrated so many kunoichi infested locations with the same jutsu and how many perverts they had knocked out.

"Why not Kid?" He led Konohamaru away explaining the technique.

"Hold the image in your head, remember unlike a normal henge this is a physical change. It takes more chakra than normal but it is far more difficult to notice and dispel."

"Is it your own original jutsu Boss?"

"Yup, it took me hours to adjust the normal henge."

"Waaaaaaa! I will get this down! HENGE!"

Naruto blanched going white. "Dispel! Try again. Wrong! More slender! More beautiful!" The training continued each attempt marginally better than the last.

"By the way…why are you going after your grandpa so much?" Naruto asked his student as they took a break relaxing on a log.

Konohamaru slumped and after a while began to talk, "Grandpa gave me the name Konohamaru. I'm named after the village but even though everyone is used to that name here…nobody ever calls me that. When everyone sees me or calls me…all they see is the Hokage's grandson. Nobody sees me as me. I'm sick of that. That's why I want the Hokage name now."

Naruto sighed, "Idiot! Who'd acknowledge a punk like you?"

"Huh?"

"The Hokage title isn't so easy a brat can take it."

Konohamaru balled his fists, "What?!"

"It's not that easy moron! Hokage, Hokage…if you want the name that much, then kick my ass first!" He grinned his trademark I never give up smile at Konohamaru and watched his eyes go wide then narrow.

A voice cut in on the two boys.

"I have found you." Naruto turned to see Ebisu looming over them coolly on a tree branch. He gritted his teeth, one day those eyes would change he vowed. From suspicion to camaraderie. Ebisu leapt down.

"Honourable grandson it is time to leave."

"No! Take this! Sexy no jutsu!" It was perfect. That's all Naruto had to say about it as he smugly crowed in his head. Maybe he should become a jonin sensei? Teaching was so easy. Oh yeah it didn't work on Ebisu.

"W..Wh..What a vulgar skill! I'm a gentleman, such a super low class skill...will never work against me! If you hang out with the likes of him, you'll just turn stupid! Just do what I say. I'm your easiest short cut to becoming a Hokage. Now let's go home!"

"Nooooo!" Konohamaru yelled, "Booosssss!"

"You're lying." Naruto told Ebisu with a calm he did not feel. Blood rushed through his head as he spoke the words which still resonated with him. "The title of Hokage is sacred. You don't get trained for it, you can't get trained for it! You have to think of the village as your most precious item and keep it close to your heart over and above everything else. You're only Hokage if people acknowledge you not the other way around, you cannot be Hokage solely for the acknowledgement. _There are no short cuts!_"

Both student and elite tutor turned to look at him, was it his imagination or did Naruto see the tiniest glint of approval in Ebisu's eye?

"Stop lecturing me like you're some one important bah. You're not my boss any more, from now on we are rivals!" Konohamaru cried. He ripped his way to stand across from Naruto and both of their serious gazes locked.

"I'll be looking forward to it…Konohamaru." He turned to Ebisu, "I do believe I heard a challenge?"

Ebisu cocked his head, "I don't believe I issued one…"

"Ah it was such a low vulgar skill won't work against you. Konohamaru put a point in my column! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

For the first time since he time travelled he performed the jutsu. With thirty poofs of smoke thirty lounging Naruto's appeared on the field surrounding Ebisu. The Hokage choked violently on his pipe as he watched the scenes from his ball. Naruto had never mentioned he picked up such a jutsu! Ebisu himself got eyes the size of dinner plates before he steeled himself.

"I am an elite tutor." He told Naruto coolly, "I can take thirty of you and more."

"Nah, it'd look bad if I beat up a jonin on my first day." Naruto grinned foxily, "Sexy no jutsu" thirty voices cried as thirty voluptuous blondes appeared cooing and hanging off Ebisu with strategically placed smoke.

Ebisu stared and went shooting off with twin jets of blood from his nose. Naruto dispelled his clones laughing. It felt good to prank people! The Hokage hit his head against his desk repeatedly ignoring the panicked calls of his ANBU. He just knew he was going to fall victim to that technique…

…

Naruto steeled himself before pushing open the door and walking in. Chattering and noise hit his ears instantly and he took a deep breath. He had time travelled. Everyone was alive. And they were going to stay alive! He cast an eye over his classmates and fought the urge to cry like a baby. Everyone was so innocent! And …chibified. He stepped inside hesitantly without his usual fanfare, dark thoughts swirling in his head about the future.

"Huh? Naruto, what the hell are you doing here? Only those who passed are supposed to be here."

"Hey, hey can't you see the forehead protector?" Naruto flicked it with his thumb lips twitching.

The boy gave him a dubious look but a voice he hadn't heard for ages cut in.

"Hey will you let me through?"

Sakura…Master medic…Defeater of Sasori…Slug summoner…fan girl…

He turned to face her trying to hide his mix of emotions; relief, welcome, grief and pride.

"Naruto! Move your ass! I want to sit on the other side of you!" Sakura glared down at him. Naruto hid a wide grin at the familiar antics but scrunched his eyebrows. Surely he didn't have the same seat? He just took one randomly to prevent the incident. He turned around slowly to see a dark haired boy sitting in the corner seat.

Sasuke…Magnekyou Sharingan wielder…defeater of Orochimaru…snake and hawk summoner…avenger…

Sasuke gave him an annoyed look noticing him watching. He really had a chance to do this again! His team would stay together this time! Now to please Sakura or Sasuke? Sakura took the matter out of his hands as she knocked him down in her eagerness to get to her Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Can I sit next to you?" Sasuke ignored her steadfastly. Sakura took that as a yes. He was _not_ jumping up to the desk this time. He stayed perfectly still _in his seat _where he could not go anywhere near Sasuke. _It was not happening._ He clutched at his seat until his fingers went white.

Iruka walked in a while later. Phew crisis averted.

"Beginning today, all of you are real ninjas…But you are merely rookie genin. The hard part has just started. Now you will be assigned duties by the village. So today we will be creating the three man teams…And each team will have a jonin sensei. You will follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties." Iruka looked over them all face serious as if to impart to them this wasn't a joke. "We tried to balance each team's strength."

Team 7 will be together again Naruto mused. This time around we really need more training from Kakashi, he loved that man to bits but goddamn he wasn't much of a teacher. Maybe Sasuke wouldn't defect? He bit his lip, he had no idea what to do! He glanced sideways at his future team mates; Sakura looked to be deep in prayer while Sasuke just looked exasperated at the world. Nothing changed huh?

"Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto," Sakura slumped over. "Uchiha Sasuke." Then she perked right up punching the air. Sasuke however closed his eyes which Naruto translated as please kill me now. Should he keep up appearances or should he not? Hell it was fun!

"Iruka sensei! Why does an awesome shinobi like me have to be on the same team as someone like him?!" Naruto leapt to his feet and pointed dramatically at Sasuke who just calmly ignored him.

Iruka put his hands on his hips and barked back, "Sasuke's results were the top of all 27 graduates, and Naruto…you were dead last. It is to balance out the teams."

"Bah, just don't get in my way dead last." Sasuke scoffed from the side. Naruto glared at him, it didn't need much acting on his part. He fell back into his seat grumbling for the sake of it. Iruka narrowed his eyes noticing Naruto had not responded to Sasuke's taunt. Maybe the Mizuki incident was finally making him mature?

"Ok this afternoon, we'll introduce the Jonin sensei. Take a break."

Naruto went red slightly as he remembered what he had done the first time around. Now he thought of Sakura as a sister, no way was he doing that again.

"Hey, want to eat lunch as a team?" He offered.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him and left without saying a word, Sakura followed him like a puppy not even bothering to answer Naruto. He felt a pang of hurt. His team mates could at least answer him. He swallowed hard then left anyway, if they weren't going to eat with him, he could prepare for tomorrow. He stuffed a sandwich in his mind and he chewed as he ran to Training ground 7 where it all began. He snuck cautiously in, just in case someone was using it. He crept in, ears straining but relaxed when he didn't see or hear anybody. He quickly pulled out weapons, wire and exploding tags, he didn't have much time to set this up! Wait, did he want to use real weapons or shadow clone objects? Could he even make them to last until the next day? No better to use real objects, just so his plan wasn't ruined by him running out of energy.

He hastily made some traps with real, fake trip wires, kunai launchers, trigger launchers, faker trigger launchers, real launchers which looked fake, fake wires which tripped the real wires and buried exploding tags in a semi-circle around where he remembered Kakashi to have been. Thank god he hadn't moved around much until the end! Unknown to Naruto, Kakashi was crouched in a tree looking very amused at his potential student's antics. He had been gazing at the memorial stone, about to go find the Hokage to scout out his potential students when to his surprise one came directly to him. With the ease of an ANBU captain he supressed his chakra and hid remembering the Uzumaki's had been talented chakra sensors. He watched Naruto sneak in, how had he known he was going to use Training ground 7? Well team 7 to training ground 7 wasn't that big of a leap he reasoned doubtfully. As Naruto set up traps, he felt a flicker of unease. Naruto couldn't have known what he had been planning to do. To be fair he was notorious as a jonin sensei, maybe Naruto heard it from somewhere. It wasn't a bad plan, rig up the ground beforehand, it was what shinobi were meant to do. It was useless since he'd seen it all but the thought counted for something. He was slightly impressed, even if his lone eye was watering at the shade of his clothing. This was the _dead last_? He hummed to himself flitting away, deciding to give Naruto a chance with his traps since he had cleverly thought ahead and gathered information in such a short span of time. He was now really looking forward to this, maybe he could pass a team this year.

Naruto panted as he finished his traps. Perfect, now he had to run back and…oh wait this was Kakashi he was thinking about. He had three hours to spare. He lazily slouched out of the training field and wandered back to the academy to meet up with his team.

…

Kakashi stared in shock at Naruto's apartment. The same kid who proved he could think like a ninja kept his living conditions like this? The milk went bad a while ago, it was messy and plants were everywhere with the dirt leaking out. Where was the order? The discipline? Where were the traps to stop enemy ninja? It didn't match up. This was the apartment of a dead last, the boy he'd seen earlier did not match that profile.

"So this is Naruto's house." He mused, hiding his shock.

"Yes, he's a moron but I think giving him to you would be best. You have a nose for those types. Plus your team will have Sasuke from that Uchiha clan. Good luck."

"Yes sir."

"Are you going to be late?"

"Maaa not more than usual."

The Hokage rolled his eyes, "At least let them know your name before subjecting them to your brand of peculiarity." Kakashi froze. He turned to face the Hokage sharply.

"They don't know who their jonin sensei are going to be?"

"The Jonin sensei are introduced as they pick up their teams." The Hokage puffed, "Why?"

Kakashi gazed intently at the milk carton feeling oddly excited, "Because Naruto snuck into training ground 7 to set traps." The two ninja shared a look then Kakashi grinned under his mask, "This will be fun."

…

Sasuke scowled into the silence. Sakura too had an irritated expression. Naruto on the other hand was bored out of his mind trying to cut a leaf in half with his chakra. He kept blowing them up in his face and his face now had a singed smell to it. He knew he was getting some very odd looks from the other two but resolved to ignore them still a bit miffed from being ignored so casually earlier.

"Baka what are you doing?" Sakura demanded finally. He wanted his Sakura back with a vengeance. She was mature, capable and smart, this mocking caricature was all the negative parts of his Sakura magnified.

"Wind training." He responded with a fake big smile. She huffed, "Where did you pick that up?"

"A friend taught me." His eyes softened as he remembered Yamato and Kakashi bickering away as he agonised over cutting leaves. Sakura saw his eyes soften and abandoned the cutting remark she was going to make about him having no friends.

"Teach me?" She sat down opposite to him. Naruto nearly had a heart attack. Where was the punch for wasting her time? Or the dismissal of it as unimportant because Sasuke didn't do it?

"Erm why? No offense Sakura."

She glared at him then looked sideways as Sasuke blushing. Oh that made more sense. She wanted to impress him with her qualities of hard work and dedication. He half rolled his eyes and half wanted to yell in glee. Things were already changing.

"Elemental training isn't that easy to pick up dobe." Sasuke cut in smoothly, "You might even be training for the wrong element."

"Wrong element?" Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion, "Ninjas can pick up most of the elements right?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah but there's a dominant element which is easiest for a ninja to pick up. I'm fairly sure," his lips twitched minutely, "Mine is wind."

"What's yours Sasuke?" Sakura crooned, "I bet it's the most impressive one."

"…I don't know." Sasuke seemed a bit reluctant to bite it out.

"Fire and lightning." Naruto replied casually swinging his feet.

"Shut up Naruto." Sakura said absentmindedly. Sasuke shot him an extremely hard look, "How did you reason that one dobe?" his voice was cutting.

"Uchiha's generally have a fire nature, and you seem more of a lightning type than fire."

"Waa Sasuke's so cool, he has two elemental types. What about me?" she looked expectantly at Naruto looked at her, "Fire."

"Fire?" Echoed Sakura and Sasuke who looked put out.

"Fire. I don't know the exercise for fire and I doubt Sasuke does either." Naruto said with finality.

With that awkward silence fell over the three of them. Two more hours passed in mind numbing boredom. Naruto checked the time and slid from his seat. Two pairs of eyes snapped to his movement. There was no point using a chalk eraser this time, it wouldn't show on Kakashi sensei's hair. He pulled out the chalk eraser and liberally splatted it with ink from ink pots. Payback time, he cackled mentally. He shoved it into the crack of the door.

"I'm not involved." Sakura huffed.

"Pfft like a Jonin will fall for that kind of a trap." Sasuke scoffed derisively.

At that moment a hand appeared around the academy door and pushed it open. The three genin watched in disbelief as the inky eraser fell with a splat on a silver haired man in a dark mask. It worked better than Naruto anticipated, Kakashi grimaced under his mask. He hadn't expected ink, it would take time for it to go away even with water. Naruto burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha you fell for it!" He actually felt more like crying than laughing seeing his sensei again, but laughing hysterically was a good substitute. Kakashi of course picked up his laugh wasn't as real as it could have been and mentally raised an eyebrow. So far Naruto's behaviour did not match up with the skulking boy on the training ground. He acted like…Obito…on purpose?

"I'm so sorry sensei, I tried to stop him but Naruto…" Sakura whimpered. Kakashi bent down to pick up the dirty eraser vowing to get his revenge on Hiruzen for giving him a team seemingly like his old one. He spotted Sasuke giving him one of the trademark Uchiha sceptical looks and sighed mentally. He had a lot of work to do.

"Hmm How can I say this?" he rubbed his chin, "I don't like you guys!" He catalogued each of their reactions carefully. He didn't need more acting from the more talented of the team on paper. Sasuke didn't react, that fit the profile; Sakura sweat dropped, okay that did too, Naruto gazed back innocently, that sort of did? "Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes." He shunshinned out leaving behind a lot of smoke just for Naruto being difficult.

He sat on the roof edge lazily waiting for the children. Sasuke was first up, he motioned for Sasuke to take a seat in front of him. Then Naruto and Sakura got there at the same time. They took their seats without being prompted.

"Ok…let's begin with some introductions."

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked.

"How about your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, stuff like that." He elaborated.

"Hey, hey why don't you introduce yourself to us first?!" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah…you look suspicious." The girl backed up her team mate. He wanted to laugh, he looked suspicious? He looked like the epitome of a ninja! Except for the hair but no one was perfect. Time for him to have some fun.

"Ohh…me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Never thought about it. Hmm…well, I have lots of hobbies..."

Naruto suppressed a snort. Kakashi sensei was just the same. He remembered Kakashi giving the same speech to a noble client and the noble not knowing exactly how to react to such an enigmatic and infuriating statement.

"So all we learned is his name?" Sakura whispered disgruntledly.

"Now it's your turn, from the right." Kakashi pointed to Naruto, "Take it away blondie."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! As in whirlpool not the topping. But the topping's great too, I love cup ramen! What I like more is when Iruka sensei buys me ramen. I dislike waiting three minutes for the ramen to cook."

Kakashi fought the urge to face palm. Come on he urged Naruto to give him something to prove the dead last mask was just that, a mask.

"My dream…" Naruto's face hardened, "Is to usher in a new age of the ninja." The way he spoke sent chills down everyone's spine. Kakashi's eyes widened then relaxed, Naruto had grown in an interesting way.

"Hobbies…pranks I guess." Naruto shrugged dispelling the tension he had created.

"I see." Kakashi murmured, "Next." He had a visionary for a student….great…

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And…I don't want to use the word dream but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and …to kill a certain man." He glowered darkly into his hands.

Kakashi wanted to read his porn desperately. A visionary and an avenger. Who had he pissed off in his life?

"And lastly the girl."

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like is… Well…the person I like is…Umm Should I say my dream for the future…? Oh my! The thing I dislike…is Naruto." Naruto grimaced at that as did Kakashi. "My hobby is…" she kept glancing sideways at Sasuke.

Oh brilliant…a visionary, an avenger and a fan girl taught by the lazy pervert. It sounded like the start of a bad joke.

"Ok! That's enough of that. We will start our duties tomorrow." He really enjoyed this next bit. "But first we're going to do something with just the four of us." He eye smiled at them all and laughed inwardly when they didn't send hostile glances back.

"What?" Sasuke bit out.

"Survival training." The two words dropped like a stone in the pleasant atmosphere. He crossed his arms.

"Why is our duty, training?" Sasuke sounded slightly confused.

"We did enough training at the academy." Sakura cried.

"Where?" Everyone paused to consider Naruto's response. Kakashi narrowed his eye, genin were supposed to question vague orders.

"I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training." Why wasn't he surprised Naruto didn't look surprised.

"What is it then?" Sakura asked.

"Hehehe" he chuckled darkly, releasing the barest amount of his killing intent and watched two of his genin shiver before stilling. The third gave no indication he even felt it and just kept smiling. Well the fox had to have Naruto immune to such tiny killing intent he reasoned.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke demanded.

"Well…it's just that…when I tell you this, you guys are definitely going to flip." Naruto wasn't totally sure but he was reasonably sure that last time there hadn't been genuine malice glittering in Kakashi's lone eye. Or the dangerous undertone to his voice when talking about the test. He gulped, he had no wish to face a more serious Kakashi in combat.

"Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen as Genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate over 66%!" Kakashi cut an imposing figure with his flyaway silver hair and dark mask looming over them. Yeah he definitely hadn't been that scary last time Naruto decided watching Sakura gulp and Sasuke glare more ferociously out of the corner of his eye. It had to be his fault, he was the only one different, but question was what on earth had he done to warrant this?

"Haha." Kakashi chuckled sardonically, "I told you you'd flip."

Naruto decided quickly to act like a moron just to try and fix the scenario to how he remembered it.

"What the hell?! But we worked so hard…Then what was the point of graduating." He yelled. It didn't work. In fact it made it worse.

"Oh...that? That's just to select those that have a chance to become genin." Kakashi had never sounded that cold or like he didn't care about their futures in quite that way before. It chilled Naruto, and if it chilled him it most definitely chilled the other two.

"I'll warn you now." Kakashi continued, "A visionary seeking an impossible goal, an avenger after the loftiest ambition, a fan girl without any convictions have no place in the shinobi forces. I will not blame you if you decide not to turn up tomorrow and get humiliated. Konoha has no need of weak brats and I refuse to teach babies." He stared at all of them coolly. Naruto felt ice form in his stomach. Where was lazy sensei? Where was bored sensei? Where was perverted sensei? The man in front of them was a vicious, cold killer.

He bit his lip. He had to pass! Or the future would change drastically. Well he already knew the test, all he had to do was persuade the other two to come around to his point of view.

"Don't bother having breakfast if you decide to turn up. You'll just throw it up. The details are on this print out, don't be late tomorrow." With that, the ominous aura vanished and Kakashi was back to his normal self with the bored intonation and lazy eye. Naruto was frozen to his seat as were his team mates. The change was terrifying, even more than his other self. No body dared say anything. He skimmed the print out, basic information, and threw it away. When they looked up from the print out, Kakashi was gone.

"I think we got the scariest jonin in Konoha." Sakura whispered. "The way he just changed."

"Higher nin are usually unbalanced." Sasuke grunted. Sakura looked at him in horror, then where their sensei had been.

Naruto licked his dry lips, "We're going to die tomorrow."

**Review to find out what happened next. ^.^**

**Yup Kakashi isn't going to be as soft on them as he was in canon since he's annoyed and suspicious. Poor Naruto doesn't quite understand but meh he will soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Naruto exactly like the last time. *sigh* It's depressing. Oooh question, Byakugan or Sharingan? Bit curious to see the split, I've always been more of a Byakugan girl myself.**

Kakashi leapt over the rooftops incredibly disappointed with his new team. The girl was merely a fan girl. Top kunoichi? Really? He didn't see an inner core of strength he saw in the other two. She would be detrimental to team work, hanging off one and belittling the other. From muscle definition, she didn't worked out or practised as much as she should have. A kunoichi wearing a dress? A nice dress at that? It was ridiculous. It wasn't because she reminded him of Rin he told himself.

Then there was Sasuke. He could believe Sasuke was the rookie of the year, Uchiha's were naturally gifted in combat but his obsession with his brother was worrying. The desire for power glimmered in the back of his eyes and Kakashi knew he had to be careful. They boy was a loner, team work would not come naturally to him considering the last person he trusted killed all of his family. Yeah Kakashi was going to have problems. And he could see a younger version of himself in Sasuke but really who cared? He didn't.

Naruto. The most confusing member of the team. He had some gigantic secrets which could potentially splinter the team apart. He had the distinct feeling Naruto was used to his antics but that was impossible. All Naruto had seen of him was his silver hair when he guarded him as a kid. He didn't trust either of his teammates and it showed in the way he kept both of them in his sight at all times and kept glancing at them. A team with secrets was a faulty team he thought grimly. He had to find a way to get Naruto to share them. He acted like Obito but he wasn't, there was a hidden intelligence there, which he saw earlier. That was the reason he liked Naruto least at the minute. He could deal with a generation Xerox of his team, Naruto messed it up.

_He could not see a team forming._

…

Naruto turned up on time just in case the weirdness that had infected Kakashi had also made him inclined to be on time. It was a lost cause. Like the original time he waited for three hours with his team in utter silence. He didn't want to talk, they reminded him too much of their future selves. Sasuke was too antisocial to talk and Sakura was too intimidated by twin sources of tension to consider breaking the silence. Dimly he was aware this was very bad for team building but he suppressed it. He missed his Konoha and friends. Hell he even missed Sai and all his jokes. He had just spent the night drawing scenes from his memory in a brooding silence. The change in Kakashi unsettled him, there shouldn't have been a change this early.

"Yo! Good morning!" the subject of his thought wandered up.

"You're late." Snarked Sasuke, shrieked Sakura, commented Naruto. Kakashi eye smiled, this time no one smiled back.

"Ahh I got delayed to buy a new alarm clock, I jammed a kunai in my old one." He mused thoughtfully.

"Ok, it's set for noon." He clicked the alarm on an alarm clock on a stump.

"?" came the response.

Kakashi held up two silver bells. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before noon. Those who can't get a bell by noon…get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll eat right in front of you."

On cue three stomachs rumbled. Naruto had thought it best to play it safe.

"You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And…the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So at least one of you will be sent back to the Academy." Kakashi's lone eye looked over them all, "Use whatever you like. You won't succeed unless you come at me with intent to kill." Actually they wouldn't succeed at all but there was no need to crush hopes.

"Sensei you couldn't dodge a black board eraser." Naruto said cautiously.

"Empty pots sound the loudest. Ignore Mr Dead last and start when I say…"

_Dead last!_

Just because he was dead last didn't mean he had no talent! But he wasn't suicidal or stupid enough to charge at Kakashi with just a kunai this time. However he wasn't going to let that comment slide, he had enough of being ignored dammit. But his decision was taken out of his hands by Kakashi blurring from where he was. Milliseconds later he felt one hand being twisted back and cold steel of a kunai at his throat. He didn't dare to gulp, he hadn't done anything!

"See that. Look at your team mates, each of them reacted accordingly. You are the dead last," Naruto could feel Kakashi shrug, "It is simply unavoidable." Then Kakashi released him and slotted away his kunai. Naruto looked. Sasuke was in a defensive guard and he had been in that guard ever since he lost track of Kakashi. Sakura had reacted too by bringing her arms up in a parody of a block. Why hadn't Naruto reacted? Despite this Kakashi scaring him, he still trusted his sensei and didn't believe he would harm Naruto.

"Acknowledge me and I'll acknowledge you." Kakashi crinkled his eye and patted Naruto on the head. "Start!"

Kakashi wanted to face the war veteran…fine. The three genin blurred away to hide, Naruto had attached a note to each of their shirts when they hadn't been paying attention. Pranking helped so much with stealth. It read

_Mind the traps. It's a test of team work. I have a plan. Naruto._

Sasuke read it, raised an eyebrow and commended Kakashi in his head for such a confusing test. The way he managed to imitate Naruto's writing was remarkable except for the fact Sasuke knew Naruto couldn't spell to save his life. He casually threw what was a trap in his mind away. He had to get a bell alone, Sakura was a weight and Naruto was the dead last, there could be no team work there.

Sakura read it and thought about it. While it was true genin teams were in groups of 4, it was also true that she had seen many teams of three in Konoha. Perhaps Naruto could be correct but she couldn't take the chance, she had to be with Sasuke on a team of 3 or 4. Working with Naruto meant Sasuke would fail and she couldn't stand that. Perhaps she could work together with Sasuke?

Naruto crouched under a bush and hoped that they would believe him. After a while when he saw no movement towards him he sighed and accepted the fact they hadn't believed him. Why did they have to be so difficult? He griped.

"Hello Naruto." The cheery voice of his sensei behind him spooked him so much he scrambled away as quick as he could.

"Oh good you have some instincts." Kakashi crinkled his eye squatting behind the bush.

"How? I mean you're over there." Naruto pointed in a direction where a lack of a Kakashi was incredibly obvious, "Oh."

"You're slightly off in hiding." Kakashi commented lightly, "This yours?" He held up one of the notes Naruto had given to the others. Oh dear. "You have a plan? Mind showing me it?"

"I do actually." Naruto agreed, "I do mind that is."

"Pity. Well I do hope you'll show me your plan when you're trying not to get hit."

Naruto felt foreboding tickle his spine. He backed off slightly and got in a defensive pose. Kakashi clucked disapprovingly, "Your left foot is too far out, you're too bent over, your right hand should be higher, and your other hand should be lower. If you were older and taller that stance would be fine."

Naruto fixed his stance and immediately felt more at ease. He hadn't realised his old habits would be passed on, this made learning taijutsu more difficult than he had imagined.

"Weak point of the stance." Came the voice behind him. Oh come on not again! "Is here." Two fingers poked him in the neck and he collapsed in agony clutching his neck. He looked up to see Kakashi looking curiously at his fallen form.

"I suppose I have to take it easy on you." He sighed, "You are the dead last after all." Something gleamed in his lone eye. Naruto did not like it. At all.

Kakashi's hand dipped into his pouch then paused, "Hey kid, if I told you, you could be a genin if you tell me which of your two team mates deserve to go back, who would you say?"

"…What?"

"I saw your trap making skills yesterday, and information gathering, you figured out the purpose of this test. You're at the genin level. So who would you send back? Don't be shy here."

"I...wouldn't..." he stammered confused.

Kakashi's eye glittered in disappointment, "I see, inability to make decisions in a hurry is a crucial set back. Maybe I was wrong in thinking you had some redeeming qualities, you aren't genin level." That stung.

"You just said I had good trap making and information gathering skills!" he yelled.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "The mind-set of a genin is more important than the skills of a genin. I couldn't care less about what you can or can't do but what you're willing to do. And anyway I was being nice." That sounded more like his Kakashi but the implied meaning wasn't.

"Show me why you deserve to be on this team. Sasuke is a genius in his own right and Sakura can be moulded to be great. You're the dead last, the weight." Kakashi demanded sliding into his own stance, Naruto noticed his book was nowhere in sight. Hell what had he done to merit this big a change!? This cruelty was not familiar to him from his sensei.

Kakashi dealt him a punishing blow to the solar plexus. He couldn't block it in time and he wheezed as he was sent stumbling back. There was no time to recover as Kakashi kicked him viciously in the side sending him into a tree. His side felt like something was broken with the force of that kick, he curled up before pushing himself to his feet. Kakashi was still standing where he had been watching him.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu." He whispered, talking hurt. Fifty copies of him appeared around the clearing and started to attack Kakashi who…surprise, surprise wasn't there anymore. He had done Kawarimi with the original Naruto so he got the pounding meant for Kakashi until his clones noticed.

"Think before you use a jutsu or it'll be used against you." Kakashi remarked casually as he chopped a clone across the wind pipe so it dispelled. Naruto gritted his teeth, he couldn't match up to Kakashi! The man was too smart, and apparently not hesitant to pull any punches. "I cleared it with the Hokage, I can do anything I like against you guys." He clapped his hands, "Isn't that great!?"

"No! You broke something!"

"Maa it'll heal. You have the Kyuubi after all. Pretty much everything I do to you will get healed." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Naruto's remaining clones circled him warily. "Don't tell me you're giving up on the mission objective so easily! The bells are right here." He pointed to his side.

"You must think I'm stupid if you think I'm going to rush in like a madman." Naruto rasped out.

"I do think you're stupid." Kakashi agreed, "You haven't noticed it's a genjutsu yet."

"What?" When had he? "Kai!" Nothing happened. "Arghhh!" A kunai thrown at such an angle that it went through both his hands pinning them together. Blood dripped down his hand as he felt the bones shift around the kunai as he tried to move his hands. It was agony.

"I lied kid. I do that sometimes. Rule number 2 of combat: Never listen to the enemy! You've already broken rule number 1."

"What's that?" Naruto backed off slowly pulling his right hand out of its position with a squelch. He grimaced, his blood had an all too familiar coppery smell.

"Never get in a fight you can't win. Come on Naruto I did say it was survival training."

"I get it!" Naruto snarled.

"No, you don't get it, that's why I'm telling you. You think you get it, which isn't the same as actually getting it. Get it?" Kakashi snarked.

_Kawarimi._

_Kawarimi._

_Kawarimi._

_Kawarimi._

He and his clones swapped with each other several times until Kakashi lost track of the original. Right really, he could smell the blood back to a single Naruto. That plan wouldn't work on him. Three clones came at him, one low, one middle, one high. He sighed grabbed the highest one by the ankle and brought him smashing down into the other two so they all dispelled.

"You're going to have to do better than that, dead last."

The clones in a fit of fury piled on top of him, kicking and punching all available parts of him. Maybe he had pushed the boy a little too far? Kakashi casually pulled out a heavy chain with razor sharp sickles on both ends and began to spin it expertly. Each flash of steel dispelled at least four clones as they were bisected screaming. The original gaped and hastily summoned more clones in the hope of crushing Kakashi under numbers. No. They all died too. A stray slash caught Naruto on his left arm and he cried out in pain. Blood spurted out and he felt vomit build up in the back of his throat as his eyes went blurry from tears of pain.

Slam!

Naruto was pinned to a tree, a sickle scraping his neck as it curved around his neck to stick in the tree. He couldn't move his head or he'd lose it!

"Kakashi sensei?" he was now getting scared. Maybe he was in an alternate dimension, there was no other explanation for this!

"Stay still Naruto." He heard from outside his range of vision. "You sure are weak for someone who wants to usher in a new age of ninja."

"Shut up." He breathed, going heady from blood loss. He felt the awful pressure of failure on his chest. Kakashi sensei was treating him like he was a demon. That hurt more than any of his wounds.

He felt a chain wrap around his right arm.

"Sensei what are you doing?" he called out in a panic.

"Not your sensei yet kid." Kakashi called back absentmindedly. "You still have to get a bell."

"Are you spending your entire time focusing on me? Not the other two?"

Silence. Deceptively calm silence. "You would foist me on your team mates and have me leave you alone? You disgust me." Kakashi pulled hard on the chain.

Naruto screamed to high heaven, choking and sobbing as the chain pulled tight around his arm cutting into the flesh down to the bone and splintering the bone itself to become straight. He was blinded by pain, his vision went splotchy and he was dimly aware of a loud wailing, hiccupping sound.

"Now let us try again." Kakashi's hand grabbed Naruto's chin to force it down to meet his lone eye.

"I'm sure you didn't mean what you said, care to try again?"

"Bastard!" he sobbed. Kakashi shook the chain slightly, White hot agony shot up his arm and down his shoulder. "Stop! You'll kill me!"

"Trust me kid, if I channelled fire or lightning down this…then it would be painful. Look at you, like a lamb to the slaughter. I can't on good conscience send you out as a genin of the leaf if you go down this easily to opponents. Where's your plan? Where's your pride? Isn't it great that basically I have permission to kill you and no one would blink an eye?"

"Here's a plan." Naruto gritted his teeth and punched Kakashi in the stomach with all the chakra he could channel with his left arm. It broke under the strain and he screamed but Kakashi was sent flying backwards winded. Thank God Kakashi had let go of the chain, he didn't want to imagine what would have happened then. Oh God Kakashi had done this to him. Why?! This wasn't real he told himself firmly. This couldn't be real.

"Kai." He said.

The genjutsu broke. Naruto stared wide eyed back at a lounging Kakashi sensei who was eye-smiling at him.

"Maaa took you a long time to break. I took the time to get rid of your clones." He said cheerfully.

"You have a sadistic imagination sensei." He got out while fixing his eyes firmly on Kakashi's feet. "When did you even?" He was slipping! How could there be such a difference between him and his war self!?

"When you said Kai for the first time." Sensei sounded far too happy he decided. "Well I covered you in taijutsu and genjutsu, only one left."

"You beat me up. You didn't see what I could do in taijutsu." Naruto pointed out defensively.

Kakashi waved a hand, "I saw your clones. I got a good idea. You've given up on the bells completely haven't you?" he peered at Naruto.

"Yeah…it doesn't matter does it? Even if I get a bell we won't pass unless we show team work. How long do we?"

"10 minutes. Are you sure I'm testing you on teamwork considering I found out you knew the answer before I gave you the test?"

Naruto froze then looked up to see Kakashi's eye twinkling at him.

"You're a kage bunshin." He said slowly. "You're not giving us the chance to work together. Why!?" Naruto was enraged.

"If you really wanted to work together, I couldn't stop you." Kakashi shrugged. "Face it, you warned your team mates. No one wants to work together."

"I want to work together!" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi fixed him with a piercing stare. "No you don't."

Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it again. Maybe when he really thought about it, he didn't want to work with his team mates. He wanted to work with the people they would become. He needed to accept that this was his reality now, he _had _to work with them. He looked down at his feet and shuffled.

"You're right." He said in a small voice. Kakashi ruffled his hair, the very familiar act almost bringing tears to Naruto's eyes.

"Come on Naruto, four minutes and we'll end this." His voice was kind. "Show me some ninjutsu."

"And embarrass myself?" Naruto snorted. Kakashi chuckled, "Not everyone can be as good as me I know but give it your best shot."

"You saw my kage bunshin." Naruto shrugged, "There's Kawarimi and Henge. That's it really. Ooooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh!" he bounced around. Kakashi frowned slightly.

_Kage bunshin!_

"Change your mind about the bells?" he asked lightly slipping into a stance.

"Nope! This is revenge! Oroike!"

Countless girls hung off Kakashi in the same manner as Ebisu. Kakashi went bloodless so fast his skin matched his hair. They cooed at him and draped themselves over him. Then after a moment of consideration he pushed up his headband to reveal the Sharingan. Naruto dispelled it immediately.

"Pervert." He announced. Kakashi reached into his pouch and held up Icha Icha amused. The bell rang.

….

Kakashi was confused. Who wouldn't be? He had just put Naruto through a very traumatising genjutsu and the boy had just shaken it off like it was nothing. Instant forgiveness had not been in mind as a reaction when he had put the boy under a genjutsu! He'd expected screaming, running away, loss of trust anything except a snarky answer and understanding.

The boy had understood…

Maybe Naruto hadn't even realised he understood but it was clear from the way he unconsciously fell into a neutral pose. Albeit a much butchered neutral pose but the original intention wasn't hard to work out. If anything the boy seemed angry at himself for falling to the genjutsu in the first place. That was the reaction of an experienced sparring partner, not a fresh rookie genin. But it was also clear he was a fresh rookie genin, his skills were abysmal in Taijutsu, genjutsu but ninjutsu wasn't too bad for a genin. His Kage bunshin had been trickier than he expected though, there had been a lot of henging into weapons and random tufts of grass only to ambush him as the other clones threw them or he almost stepped on them. Nothing he couldn't handle easily of course but the level of trickery was better than his teammates by a long shot.

If another village had managed to capture Naruto, extract the Kyuubi, implant the Kyuubi into another boy, got him back into Konoha henged as the real Naruto all without someone noticing he might as well commit seppuku now. So he assumed it was the real Naruto…foxes were known to be masters of deception…could the fox be influencing Naruto to hide his abilities? He cursed in his head, Naruto's seal weakening was out of his abilities to fix! What would you have done Obito? He thought rhetorically before sighing and resigning himself to try and contact the Toad Sannin as soon as possible. Why oh why was the seal master in the opposite end of Fire Country than the most important potentially unstable seal in Fire country? Maybe he was over reacting? Naah it wasn't possible to overreact when the Kyuubi was involved.

His mind turned to his other students. He resisted the urge to fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness from the deity he had apparently pissed off. Sakura was worse than useless at the minute. And he was being kind! At least Rin had some useful points to her at the beginning. Sasuke was good. Undeniably good. Granted Kakashi hadn't gone as harsh on him as he had on Naruto so Sasuke got a chance to show his skills off more…oh he really needed to give Naruto that opportunity as well just to see what he could do…he never said his plan as well…hmm. There was one fundamental difference between a younger him and Sasuke, he had respected his sensei from the beginning. Maybe this team wasn't like his old team at all. IF they passed and that was a big IF, he needed to sort the team out _fast_.

How on earth did Naruto deduce so much from so little?

How on earth did he turn Sakura into a useful member of the ninja corps?

How on earth did he curb Sasuke's obsession with his brother?

He was an ex ANBU captain, he told himself, he could handle three tiny brats. A light bulb sparked in his head. Gai! If that didn't get them united, nothing would. He walked off making plans seemingly unaware that he had already accepted the thought of them passing. He had an uncomfortable thought that he wouldn't be going to such lengths if his interest hadn't been piqued yesterday.

…..

Naruto was tied to the stump. Why always him? He was more cheerful than he had been in a while. Kakashi sensei was bi polar true but finally he had accepted that he was stuck in this reality. Now he could stop treating this like a vacation and get to work! Sakura and Sasuke were piles of depression on either side of him.

"Oh you guys look really hungry." Kakashi looked soo concerned under his mask. "By the way, something about the training. There's no need for you guys to go back to the academy." Sakura perked up looking surprised, even Sasuke showed some surprise in his eyes. Naruto gathered their experiences had gone as badly as his own.

"Then!Then! All three of us...!" Naruto yelled just because he was so cheerful.

Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets, "Yup, all three of you…should quit as ninjas!"

Yeah Naruto was expecting that, he just slumped back against the ropes. Sakura and Sasuke gaped at Kakashi in shock and anger. Kakashi stared back, a dark expression in his lone eye. This wasn't friendly Kakashi anymore Naruto thought with a gulp, woo boy.

"Quit!" Sakura screeched, "What does that mean?"

"Fine we didn't get the bells but…why do we have to quit?" Naruto asked irony lacing his tone. Kakashi shot him an extremely sharp look. He looked away hurriedly.

"Because all of you…are just punks who don't deserve to be ninjas." He said calmly as if he wasn't splintering their life dreams. Sasuke couldn't take more of this. With a roar he charged at Kakashi. With blinding speed Sasuke found himself face down in the dirt with Kakashi on top of him with a foot on his head.

"This is why you're a punk." He told Sasuke.

"Don't step on Sasuke!" Sakura yelled.

Kakashi unleashed some of his blood lust. He was satisfied to see Sakura shrink back and Sasuke shift in the dirt. Naruto however still didn't react, he glared at the blond boy. That got him to flinch back he noticed grimly.

"Are you guys underestimating ninjas? Huh? Why do you think you were divided into teams when doing this training?" Kakashi barked.

"Huh? What does that mean?" Sakura asked timidly in the wake of Kakashi's ire. He was furious, one of them knew the answer and was not telling. The other two had the answer handed to them but refused to see it! Hell Sasuke came from a ninja clan, he should have picked this up before. Sakura should have picked it up in her reading. If Naruto could pick it up so could the top two ninja in their year! _This was not teamwork. _There was no element of trust here. He restrained himself.

"Basically…you guys are not understanding the answer to this test?" He glared at Naruto practically challenging him to ask what the answer was. He didn't know why Naruto acted but it was going to stop right _now_.

"Answer?" Sasuke grunted muffled from underneath Kakashi. He rolled his eyes, "Yes the answer which usually helps people pass tests." He scathingly bit out.

"When are you going to tell us?" Sakura ventured.

"I'm not. He is." Kakashi nodded at Naruto who looked like a deer in the headlights.

Naruto could feel Kakashi's anger building. Normally sensei was a laid back guy but apparently lack of team work set him off. Good to know, he gulped nervously. He licked his lips.

"It's teamwork." He whispered.

"Exactly." Kakashi looked slightly mollified, "The three of you working together may have gotten the bells."

Sakura burst out, "But there are two bells! That just makes us fight each other, what teamwork!?"

"Of course! This test is purposely set up to make you fight amongst yourselves. The purpose is to see whether you can forget about your own interests…and successfully work together under designed circumstances."

"You didn't give us the chance to work together." Naruto called out suddenly.

"I gave you ten minutes. There was an awful lack of cooperation so I took things into my own hands. It's like that on the battle field. You work together from the start or it gets exponentially harder to work together later on." Kakashi looked over all of them. "You guys…Sakura, you had the answer given to you as did Sasuke. Did either of you think it through? You were too concerned with Sasuke who was far away instead of Naruto who you could hear fighting. Naruto, you gave your team mates one chance then abandoned them. Sasuke! You assumed everyone else would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself and failed. The duties are done by the team. Of course superior individual ability is important to a ninja but what is more important is teamwork."

Kakashi reached back into his pouch. Naruto tensed, Kakashi sent him a curiously approving look.

"Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger. And even get you killed. For example…" He whipped out a kunai, immobilised Sasuke and pressed a kunai to his neck, "Sakura! Kill Naruto! Or Sasuke dies!"

"That sort of choice has bad consequences no matter what you do!" Naruto roared drowning out Sakura's "Whaaaaat!"

"Exactly. If a hostage is taken, you will have tough choices. You will be risking your lives in these duties." Kakashi climbed off Sasuke, tucking away his kunai. He walked over to a stone with numerous names carved on it. Naruto in took a sharp breath, the stone had been destroyed in the invasion of Pein and most of the names had been forgotten. Here it was whole and sound.

"Look at this. There are lots of names carved onto this stone. These are the ninjas who are recognised as heroes of the village." Naruto looked away. How many had died in the war without getting their name etched on the memorial?

"All of these heroes died in the line of duty. This is a memorial. My best friend's name is also carved here…"

He wasn't much of a friend Kakashi sensei Naruto thought thinking of Obito and his tragic story. It would have been better if you had left him to complete your mission. Then he could have died as a proud shinobi. Kakashi turned half way to face them, "I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher to get the bells. Those who still wish to challenge can eat lunch. But don't give any to Naruto."

"Why!?" he yelped.

"Because your traps annoyed me…I had to waste time throwing your clones around to get rid of them. If anyone gives him any food, they will fail immediately. I am the rules here! Got it?" Kakashi disappeared with a leap.

Oh so that's what happened to his beautiful traps. He pouted.

"It's fine guys, I don't need any food." He said calmly. His stomach betrayed him but he ignored it. They needed to give up their food willingly for Naruto for him to consider working with them.

"What did Sensei do to you?" Naruto asked them randomly to break the silence of them eating.

Sakura swallowed then, "Genjutsu to show Sasuke's disembodied head." She blushed, "I passed out and when I woke up I saw Sasuke buried to his neck and by the time I got him out, the time was up."

Sasuke replied shockingly, "He had a ninjutsu battle with me after a taijutsu battle. It left me buried in the earth." He admitted.

Naruto whistled, "You got in a ninjutsu fight with the ninjutsu specialist of Konoha. I'm surprised you're not more battered. He killed me with taijutsu and genjutsu."

"Naruto…you're not good at taijutsu, I'm sure it wasn't that bad just humiliating." Sakura pointed out.

Naruto shook his head, "He kicked me into a tree. Say what you will but trees are hard!" It seemed like Kakashi had gone normal toned down strength on the other two, why so vicious to Naruto? It wasn't because Kakashi hated Naruto, hell his father had taught Kakashi. Only explanation Kakashi was suspicious and was testing him for his rank. A genin would not be able to stand against the Sharingan no Kakashi and he had proved quite epically he was outclassed in every aspect. Why was Kakashi suspicious? The whole trapping the training field had given away his secret that he wasn't the dead last anymore, he groaned out loud but Sakura and Sasuke mistook it as a groan of despair and hunger.

"Here." Sasuke snapped as he abruptly held out his lunch towards Naruto. Naruto blinked then smiled hesitantly.

"Hey Sasuke, sensei just said…"

"Don't worry, I can't sense him near here. After lunch we'll work together and get the bells. Without food he'll just be in the way and that'll only hurt is." Sasuke explained. Sakura bit her lip then she too thrust her lunch towards Naruto.

"Thanks you guys…" Naruto smiled, "Hehehe."

Kakashi leant against a tree out of his genin's view and smiled under his mask. Time for some fun.

Thunder boomed in front of the genin, a harsh gale whipped out throwing dust and smoke in their eyes so they coughed and rubbed their eyes. Kakashi appeared in the middle of it all surrounded in brilliant flashes of lightning with his killing intent turned to an all-time high. Sakura curled into a ball trembling, Sasuke froze locked into place while Naruto reflexively snarled and bared his teeth at the source of the killing intent. Kakashi glared murder at all three of them, forcing them to visualise images of their own death in their heads.

"YOU GUYS..!"

The wind dropped, the lightning faded and thunder ceded.

"Pass. Heh." Kakashi eye smiled at them still in his murderous pose.

"Has anyone told you how incredibly disturbing that is sensei?" Naruto got out.

"Pass? But why?" Sakura uncurled herself slowly shaking. Kakashi patted her on the head to get her to recover. Sasuke shook away Kakashi's hand when it was his turn.

"You guys are the first."

"Huh?"

"?"

"Everyone else would do whatever I told them to. They were all morons." Kakashi sounded derisive, "…A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash…But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades…are lower than trash." Kakashi imparted his most important rule to them and winked at Naruto who shook his head at him. Hehe the little test within a test earlier had been informative.

"That ends the training. All of you pass! Ok! Starting tomorrow Team 7 will begin its duties!" Kakashi was happy again. He finally had a team which he might like…Even if everyone on it sucked…majorly. He really had to talk to a blond genin under his command soon thinking about it.

"You two go home. I have to talk to Naruto about his attire." Kakashi waved off Sakura and Sasuke and squatted in front of Naruto to meet him at eye level. Sakura laughed and Sasuke smirked as they walked off.

"I'm perfect as I am sensei." Naruto said immediately knowing Kakashi would pick up on the hidden meaning.

"It'll interfere in the carrying out of duties by the team." Kakashi countered. "It's not good to hide beneath such baggy layers. You can't move as efficiently and your combat effectiveness goes down."

"People will underestimate me." Naruto wet his lips.

"People will aim for you first because you will seem like the weak link in the team." Kakashi corrected.

"Did you mean what you said before…when you tested me?" This was a question he really wanted the answer to.

"No matter how strong a chain is, relatively one of its links is always the weakest." Kakashi murmured. "Shoddy workmanship, cheap fittings…"

Naruto nodded, "I'm used to these clothes and they're comfortable."

"Give some new clothes a chance. You might be surprised." Kakashi rolled his eyes, "I'm not saying go mesh, just more form fitting clothes in more natural colours."

Naruto laughed, "I think people would have a heart attack seeing me out of my trademark suit."

"They'll adjust." Kakashi would not budge an inch.

"Small changes." Naruto stressed the small.

"Why did you even wear the orange suit anyway, if you didn't like it?" Kakashi asked casually, mind whirring.

Naruto looked offended, "I do like it, I just got tired of seeing the same colour day after day and by the time I wanted to change I couldn't."

"Why?" Kakashi pressed.

Naruto gave him a look, "You're pressing me on the clothes you want me to wear, imagine the reaction if I turned up in those clothes in front of everyone who knew me to love orange jumpsuits."

"People do mature in ninja careers very quickly."

"Not overnight." Came the quick reply.

"Better the truth overnight than lies over a couple of weeks."

"We're ninja, lies are in our job description."

"You've been genin for 5 minutes, you can be excused the lying part."

"But I'm good at it!"

"Not so good that I didn't pick it up."

"You're a Jonin. You don't count." Was the boy sulking? Kakashi was amused.

"Come on Naruto, I'll drag you around town until we find some better ninja attire."

"Ehhh!?"

"…You know as we have been talking about…" Kakashi eye smiled down at him and flipped a kunai so it cut through the ropes. "I don't care if you wear that jumpsuit outside our team time but while we're working as a team, you will wear suitable attire."

"Shouldn't you be saying that to Sakura too?" Yup definitely sulking.

"She doesn't have the same problem as you." With that Kakashi picked up Naruto, tucked him under one arm and walked off reading his book while Naruto screamed bloody murder.

**If people didn't understand the one dialogue, two conversations, leave it in a review or pm me. I'll put up the translations in the next chapter. Poor Naruto's going to drive Kakashi up the wall Hehehe. Review please! ^.^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiiii! I'm back! This is a nice light hearted chapter because I felt nice. I don't own Naruto and I don't think I ever will at this rate. Here's the explanation for the twin conversations, one dialogue. Clothes is a metaphor here people.**

"**I'm perfect as I am sensei." **_** Don't try and change how I act.**_

"**It'll interfere in the carrying out of duties by the team." Kakashi countered. "It's not good to hide beneath such baggy layers. You can't move as efficiently and your combat effectiveness goes down." **_**Acting will hinder teamwork. It's not good to act, you can become the mask. If people think you're an idiot then in combat teamwork goes down because people don't know what you can do.**_

"**People will underestimate me." **_**I can surprise people.**_

"**People will aim for you first because you will seem like the weak link in the team." Kakashi corrected. **_**You won't get the chance to surprise people, they'll aim for you first.**_

"**Did you mean what you said before…when you tested me?" This was a question he really wanted the answer to. **_**Self-explanatory.**_

"**No matter how strong a chain is, relatively one of its links is always the weakest." Kakashi murmured. "Shoddy workmanship, cheap fittings…" **_**self-explanatory again.**_

**Naruto nodded, "I'm used to these clothes and they're comfortable." **_**I've got used to acting like this.**_

"**Give some new clothes a chance. You might be surprised." Kakashi rolled his eyes, "I'm not saying go mesh, just more form fitting clothes in more natural colours." **_**Try not acting for a change. I'm not saying bare your heart and secrets just something closer to the real Naruto.**_

**Naruto laughed, "I think people would have a heart attack seeing me out of my trademark suit." **_**People will be surprised and shocked if I decide not to act.**_

"**They'll adjust." Kakashi would not budge an inch. **_**They'll have to cope.**_

"**Small changes." Naruto stressed the small. **_**Over a long period of time.**_

"**Why did you even wear the orange suit anyway, if you didn't like it?" Kakashi asked casually, mind whirring. **_**Why do you even act if you don't like it? (Kakashi is hypothesizing)**_

**Naruto looked offended, "I do like it, I just got tired of seeing the same colour day after day and by the time I wanted to change I couldn't." **_**I kept acting little bit by little bit and when the acting was too far apart from what I'm like I couldn't change back.**_

"**Why?" Kakashi pressed.**

**Naruto gave him a look, "You're pressing me on the clothes you want me to wear, imagine the reaction if I turned up in those clothes in front of everyone who knew me to love orange jumpsuits." **_**People will think someone influenced me.**_

"**People do mature in ninja careers very quickly." **_**There are explanations to cover that.**_

"**Not overnight." Came the quick reply. **_**Need time to change back.**_

"**Better the truth overnight than lies over a couple of weeks."**

"**We're ninja, lies are in our job description." **_**Don't make me change.**_

"**You've been genin for 5 minutes, you can be excused the lying part." **_**You are going to change.**_

"**But I'm good at it!" **

"**Not so good that I didn't pick it up." **_**Tough.**_

"**You're a Jonin. You don't count." Was the boy sulking? Kakashi was amused.**

"**Come on Naruto, I'll drag you around town until we find some better ninja attire." **_**(Kakashi is using the opportunity to get Naruto out of that jumpsuit as well)**_

"**Ehhh!?"**

"…**You know as we have been talking about…" Kakashi eye smiled down at him and flipped a kunai so it cut through the ropes. "I don't care if you wear that jumpsuit outside our team time but while we're working as a team, you will wear suitable attire." **_**I don't care if you act to the rest of the village, with the team you won't.**_

"**Shouldn't you be saying that to Sakura too?" Yup definitely sulking. **

"**She doesn't have the same problem as you." With that Kakashi picked up Naruto, tucked him under one arm and walked off reading his book while Naruto screamed bloody murder. **_**She isn't hiding beneath a mask.**_

…

Kakashi strolled in a ninja wares shop, waved lazily at the owner and made for the back where the clothes were.

"Sensei you can put me down now…" Naruto grouched.

Kakashi hummed, "See anything you like?" Naruto looked around, craning his neck.

"Where's the orange…?"

His sensei grimaced under his mask and reluctantly strode down another aisle way. Wonderful miraculous orange!

"Discreet Naruto…discreet…We're ninja not thugs."

Naruto shrugged. He didn't particularly care about being discreet but the jacket he wanted, the one that Jiraiya gave him, was somewhere scattered in Fire country. So if he didn't care about new clothes, sue him.

"Fine, that dark orange top and that black shorts." Kakashi actually stopped dead, very surprised at how easy it was to get Naruto to agree to be more discreet.

"That's it?" He asked cautiously. "No brighter shades of orange? No more protests?"

"It's the only one with the Uzumaki spiral on the back." Came the reply. Kakashi nodded grimly. He grabbed the top and two others which he gave Naruto absolutely no choice in, the shorts and another pair before dumping Naruto and all of the clothes in front of the owner. Naruto caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye and remembered the nervous boy in dark blue he had taken pity on and whispered teamwork to. He wondered if his team had passed or failed following the hint.

"Sorry Mister we don't accept children as payment for merchandise." Came the respectful reply. Naruto pouted at the girl and turned away, she fought the urge to remain indifferent and smile.

She priced it all and Naruto paid for them while Kakashi surveyed some of the basic trapping scrolls.

"Put these on my tab." He called out carelessly to the girl when walking out still with Naruto under one arm.

"Sensei? We're done right?"

"Nope."

"…Why?"

"Who am I Naruto?"

"Kakashi sensei?"

"Who are you Naruto?"

"…Naruto Uzumaki?"

"And together what do we make?"

"…Half of team 7?"

Kakashi eye smiled at him, "Exactly." And carried on walking.

"What. Where are you taking me anyway?

"Do you know how long it took me to break into your home?"

"Why were you breaking into my home in the first place!?" Naruto yelled in alarm. His drawings of the future were there! Had Kakashi done this in the previous timeline?

"Oh come on Naruto, I get a genin team, first course of action is information gathering."

"So you broke into my house!?"

Kakashi adopted a long suffering tone, "I didn't see much. Just your milk. And it wasn't as much breaking in as strolling in. We are going to sort out your traps before some mercenary comes and slits your throat for being my student."

"Oh...Is that likely to happen?" Naruto sounded nervous. Kakashi didn't blame him.

"You need all the help you can get." Kakashi muttered under his breath. Hopefully this would help him come to a judgement on the blond. Then louder, "Yes." The finality of his voice stopped all conversation between sensei and student.

Naruto was thinking furiously. "Hey are Sakura and Sasuke going to be alright?" He was pretty sure in the past, this hadn't happened. Or had it and he hadn't noticed? Or maybe it had happened when he was on missions!? Oh God Kakashi was going to make him paranoid now.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Sasuke has a clan compound to himself. The seals and protections on that will keep any intruders out as you should very well remember." Naruto didn't but didn't comment, "Sakura…I'm getting Anko to talk to her."

"What?" It slipped out before Naruto could stop himself.

Kakashi carried on walking, "Oh you've heard of her." The voice was mild and bored.

Danger signs went off in Naruto's head. Uh oh.

"Who hasn't?" he scoffed hoping that Kakashi would buy that lie. Kakashi walked into his apartment building and took the stairs two at a time. Kakashi supposed it could be true, after all Naruto had spent a lot of time around shinobi when younger.

"She is rather hard to forget." Kakashi agreed and Naruto silently breathed out in relief. They stopped in front of his apartment and Kakashi dropped him unceremoniously. Naruto managed to stop himself from falling flat on his face and sent a withering look at his sensei.

"What? You want me to open the door when you just admitted you can break in?"

"It is good manners after all." Kakashi smoothly admitted.

Naruto shook his head muttering and opened the door. His familiar apartment gazed back at him, he could not prevent a smile from crossing his face. It had the familiar smell of home.

"Naruto it stinks of wet leaves." The smile turned a little strained.

"This is the Hidden Leaf." He snapped back, "Forgive me for showing some village loyalty." Oh dear, he just realised he was treating Kakashi as he had back in the past/future? Right Kakashi was his new sensei now, he couldn't treat him like a friend. A sense of sadness washed over him, he'd have to work hard to get all his old friendships back to how he wanted them. Thankfully Kakashi just chuckled. God he'd have to watch out for how he treated people.

"Right, here's how to make traps, how to make delay traps and basic sealing traps." Kakashi just handed him three scrolls suddenly while inspecting his plants. Oh… joy… his teaching skills had not improved one iota. "Try and figure them out, however try to figure them out before you get killed in your bed one night hmm?" He remembered talking to Kankuro after the meeting of the five kage about traps and chakra string uses and he thought that it was doable after all. He had survived last time after all!

"Okay." Naruto said agreeably, "I don't want to die. Want any juice sensei?" He quite obligingly went into the kitchen. Kakashi worked fast. He bit his thumb and very quietly summoned Shiba, motioned for him to be quiet and very quietly explained what he wanted Shiba to do. Shiba nodded and prowled around the other rooms. Naruto came in seconds after Shiba's tail went out of sight.

"Did you want juice? You never answered."

"It's fine Naruto, you probably should get working on those traps. I'll see you tomorrow at the same place, same time." He shunshinned out, Shiba using the smoke cover to sneak into the other room having searched one already. Naruto blinked. First Kakashi dragged him everywhere and didn't want to leave…then he just left without much warning. Strange man.

_Kage bunshin. _

The three clones took the scrolls and began to work on them chattering away. Naruto sat down at the table and rubbed his temple. He needed a plan of action. He couldn't just keep making things up. Things really started going to hell after the Chunin exams. Oh he had to find a way to warn the Hokage about that. He slammed his head against the table. He was a front line combatant, not an undercover agent! He had no idea how to do this! Too much had happened and most of them were inter related. If he changed one thing it could end up having disastrous consequences.

"_Kurama?" _He called in the depths of his mind sewer. "_What's wrong?"_

"**What did you call me?" **the rumbling voice sounded stunned.

"_Kurama of course. It's your name after all." _Naruto clambered over to the cage where he could just make out deep blood red fur in the darkness. Muscles shifted and there was a sense of the darkness itself moving as the fox's face came eye to eye with Naruto. A brilliant amber eye, the size of Naruto, seized him up.

"…**Where did you learn that name?" **the fox demanded angrily. Hot gusts blew over Naruto's face as the blood lust in the cavern exploded.

"_Come off the blood lust," _Naruto sighed, "_You haven't done that in so long. Son told me. Guess you didn't make it back."_

"**What...Where did you even meet that monkey? What do you mean 'back'?"**__The fox sounded like he didn't have the slightest clue what was going on.

Naruto sat down crossing his legs, "_Ahh you might want to get comfortable for this. I met Son when he ate me when I was trying not to die against several Jinchuuriki."_

"…**If you don't start explaining properly in the next five seconds I will flood your coils with so much energy, it'll put you in a hospital bed for days." **The fox warned.

"_I'm from the future Kurama, to cut a long story short, and apparently you aren't." _Naruto frowned, "_This is troublesome, I was hoping for your help."_

"**Why would I help you?" **The fox spluttered, "**All you humans are the same, always wanting my power and wanting to lock me up!"**

"_We were friends in the future Kurama. Like Octopops and Gyuki." _Naruto stared back at the fox dead serious, "_I never got the chance to tackle some of your hatred. I have a whole lifetime to try again."_

"**Prove to me you are from the future and that I shouldn't disregard your words as elaborate traps to get my power." **The fox snarled, hot rancid breath wafting over Naruto.

"_Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki, Kurama. Learning all those hard names paid off in the end." _Naruto grinned impishly up at the demon fox. "_They told me themselves, well except yours, Son told me yours."_

"**When he ate you." **Kurama sounded a little faint.

"_Oh I got better! You helped me free them all from Obito's control! After that battle I let you out and we were partners for the rest of the war, oh and I met your Yang self."_

The fox face palmed. "**Explain from the start. What happened, when, how and why…wait what? You let me out?"**

"_Well yeah we are a two man beast cell team! We kicked ass by the way since you don't know."_

"**I'm sure." **The fox said dryly, "**Now explain."**

It was a very, very, very long explanation later that the story wrapped up and Kurama had the picture of what was going to happen.

Naruto looked up at Kurama beseechingly, "_Do you believe me?"_

"**Kid, shouldn't you have asked me that when you said you were from the future?" **The fox snarked, "**Yes I do, the names you gave me was sufficient proof. I don't see why I should help though."**

"_But we're friends! Friends help each other out!"_

"**How have you helped me out?"**

"_We went to war to protect you and Gyuki!"_

"**Kid you just dumped all of this on me. Give me some time to think! Everything you did I don't know about, I need time to make decisions. Go away, I've heard your voice enough for one day. Come back later." **A tail flicked past the bars and hit Naruto hard enough so that he flew backwards and ended up falling out of his chair in his apartment.

"Boss, you ok?" One of his clones called out.

"Yeah I'm fine." He called back. Well Kurama was still as testy as ever, he chuckled.

…wait…

Genjutsus only didn't work on him if he was friendly with Kurama. Damn! At this point he wasn't so it could be a genjutsu making him think he time travelled! How many days had it been? Almost two since he'd been back. It could be Tsukuyomi! Wait…the moon eye plan had been implemented. What if…this was his dream, his fake reality? But he had been under a susano'o, was he really sure moonlight couldn't penetrate a susano'o? Or that after when Kaguya had appeared, he hadn't been caught? What if his body was sleeping right now as Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura fought Kaguya! They wouldn't stand chance without both him and Sasuke sealing her! Great, now he had three options on what was happening.

Kaguya caught him in Tsukuyomi

Kaguya caught him in Infinite Tsukuyomi

Or he really was back in time

The first one was easy enough to check. He just had to wait another day and it would break. Second one was…frankly impossible to check. Third one was also impossible to check. He sat back with a groan and banged his head against the table. …Wait his dream wasn't to have another chance at saving the world by going back in time…it was to be Hokage and have everyone he cared about alive. Well everyone was alive here but he wasn't Hokage. Wait! How could old man Hokage be alive and Naruto be Hokage in Infinite Tsukuyomi? Was this the genjutsu's way of compromising? Oh wait …there was retirement…again for the old man. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn't Infinite Tsukuyomi. The other two options were fine for the mean while.

Meanwhile Shiba had found the bundled up drawings of the future and was looking in vague interest at some of the pictures. He grabbed a couple of them in his mouth, retied the bundle and dispelled himself.

Naruto lifted his head up quizzically and the sound of smoke dissipating. He should know, how many Kage bunshins had he dispelled? _There was an intruder. _He motioned for the clones to guard the exits while he snuck near the doorway closest to the sound. Did Kakashi sensei jinx him with the talk of mercenaries?

_Kage bunshin._

He sent in a clone first then got the memories as it dispelled due to it not seeing anything except for some smoke. Smoke. What techniques used smoke? Shunshin, henge, Kawarimi, summoning he thought that was it. Out of those Shunshin was most likely. But the intruder had to have come in after Kakashi sensei left or Kakashi would have sensed him. He hadn't thought he was so bad at sensing that he missed someone sneaking past him and into his room! He looked at what was out of place and almost had a heart attack. His drawings! The bundle looked thinner! He snapped it open to see the damage done and gritted his teeth to see that several pictures were missing.

Damn. It was being such a good day as well.

…..

Kakashi summoned Shiba at his leisure a while later. He materialised with a muffled bark.

"Yo, find anything interesting?"

"Mmmgrrmmwruffmff"

Kakashi kindly took the bundle of papers out from Shiba's mouth.

"Thanks Boss, this was some of the few interesting things there. Everything else was normal except for the amount of ramen. Sheesh boss, packets like you wouldn't believe."

Kakashi chuckled, gave the dog a biscuit and dispelled him. He sat back down to examine the documents. He uncurled them and to his surprise they were pictures in pencil and crayon. He didn't feel bad for stealing from his student, maybe this would motivate Naruto into making some better traps.

A man…with two tentacles? A red headed boy with the kanji for love? A spiralling orange mask? The moon? Kakashi sighed. Shiba had just picked up some childish scribbling which he mistook for important… His ninken needed more training.

….

The Hokage sat in front of his desk puffing on his pipe. The Jonin milled around chatting until the break finished. The popular gossip this time was which teams had passed or failed, the poor Jonin needed some entertainment which wouldn't result in wide spread destruction. Kakashi slipped through the crowd and met up with his usual group.

"My eternal rival graces us with his presence!" Gai bellowed out, the light sparkling off his teeth.

Genma just raised a hand in greeting, "Yo." Ibiki inclined his head while Asuma and Kurenai grunted and smiled respectively.

"You're here finally." Ibiki grunted. "The meeting started an hour ago."

Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Did I miss all the long speeches on duty and joy of teaching?"

"Hell yes you *****" Asuma looked particularly annoyed. As Hokage's son he'd had to be there for _everything. _Kurenai tapped her knee thoughtfully, "What are your kids like this time Kakashi?"

Kakashi rubbed his chin sourly, "I got a visionary, an avenger and a fan girl." There was no need to say anymore. Everyone understood.

Kurenai laughed and Genma chuckled around his senbon.

"I'm sure their flower of youth will blossom if you _actually _give them a chance!" Gai stressed minutely.

"Like it did for your team?" Kakashi said pseudo mockingly back.

Gai laughed boomingly, "My dear student Lee has enough youth for the whole team three times over!"

"Speaking of which I heard you got saddled with a genin team this year Ibiki." Genma drawled wickedly, "How do you think it'll feel like to hold the brat's hands through your work station?"

Ibiki chuckled, "I'm sure it'll be fine. They'll have Genma sensei too to look up to and annoy."

"What!?" came the furious reply, "Oh hell no, I am not looking after your brats for any amount of time!"

The Hokage cut everyone off as he stood and tucked away the last document. "Now assembled Jonin, we need to officially recognise successful teams. Potential Jonin sensei line up."

Kakashi got in line with Genma to his left and Kurenai to his right.

"Gecko Team 1 failed."

"Team 2 already fielding. Hyuuga Team 3 failed."

"Nara. Team 4 failed."

"Morino. Team 5 passed." Slight murmurings.

"Akimichi. Team 6 failed."

"Hatake. Team 7 passed." The murmuring grew incredulous. Kakashi had actually passed a team! Some of them discretely pinched themselves.

"Yuhi. Team 8 passed." The murmuring didn't die down.

"Team 9 already fielding. Sarutobi. Team 10 passed."

"Shiranui. Team 11 failed."

"Will all Jonin sensei please step up?" The Hokage ordered. "Rest of you stand down."

Ibiki, Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma stepped forward in unison.

"Jonin sensei Ibiki Morino reporting." Ibiki said sharply, "Team 5 consisting of Yamara Hoshino, Shishui Ryusaki and Kigura Miyake. They passed the mirror test in the end. Most likely an infiltration/interrogation team." He stepped back.

"Jonin sensei Kakashi Hatake reporting." Kakashi reported, the bored tone gone, "Team 7 consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. They passed the bell test in the second stage. Most likely a front line combat team."

"Jonin sensei Kurenai Yuhi reporting." Kurenai spoke calmly, "Team 8 consisting of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. They passed the maze test satisfactorily. Most likely a tracking/recon team."

"Jonin sensei Asuma Sarutobi reporting." Asuma said crisply, "Team 10 consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimiji. They passed the sun test efficiently. Most likely a capture/interrogation team."

"4 teams out of 9." The Hokage murmured pressing his fingers together, "We have a good crop this year. Dismissed all of you, look after the next generation of the leaf with pride and dignity."

"You actually passed a team Kakashi." Genma raised both eyebrows, "The kids must be something special."

Kakashi rolled his eye good naturedly, "Can I help it the genin are always too scared of me to flout my orders?"

The Jonin all shared a chuckle remembering the screams of terror and loud banging from training ground 7 from the previous years.

…

The next morning when Naruto tumbled into Training ground 7 for their first day as a team, Sakura and Sasuke double taked. The orange jumpsuit was gone, leaving a dark orange shirt and black shorts rather like Sasuke's. When Naruto's hair was messed up and he was yawning like a cat, the boy looked adorable.

"G'morning Sakura, Sasuke." Naruto got out between yawns.

"Good morning." Sakura nodded.

"Hn." Sasuke allowed.

"It is isn't it?" Naruto said agreeably well versed in Uchiha grunting.

"Hn"

"Really? I preferred yesterday's myself."

"…Hn."

"Each to their own I suppose." Naruto shrugged ignoring Sakura's incredulous look. "Hey wanna spar before Kakashi gets here?"

"Kakashi sensei kid." A voice corrected from the bushes. The three of them turned to see…a dog walking out with a note tucked into its collar.

"…A talking dog." Sakura repeated slowly, "Am I imagining things?"

The dog huffed, "I'm a ninken! Didn't they teach about summonings at the academy puppy?"

"Puppy?" Sakura mouthed.

"You're sensei's ninken then." Sasuke spoke, "Does he have a message for us?"

"Yup, puppies gather around. I'm Pakkun and here is the note." He held out the note between two claws to Naruto who took it delicately.

"_Yo my cute little genin" _he read out loud, "_Your job is to track me down to receive training. Good luck. ^.\\"_

This definitely hadn't happened before. Naruto grinned. This was great! He didn't even need to do anything to get more training.

"There's more on the back dobe." Sasuke said suddenly. Naruto flipped it over and groaned.

"_PS: Naruto and Sakura will be blindfolded and Sasuke will not talk…or else…" _The menacing tone somehow managed to be conveyed through the ink and paper. Pakkun held up two pairs of scarves and some bandages unsympathetically. Sakura snatched them away. Pakkun's mouth twitched.

"First day as genin and he does this!" Sakura hissed, "Don't you agree Sasuke?"

"Hn, it's better than just teamwork exercises." Sasuke spoke reluctantly. "Pass me the bandage… This is completely stupid, he couldn't have got one other than bright pink?!" Sasuke glared venomously at the offending piece of cloth. "I refuse. I take it back. This is worse than team work exercises."

Naruto coughed, "Do you want to go tell Kakashi that while we hunt for a nice spot for your grave?"

Sasuke glared at him before slamming them around his mouth and performing a henge very quickly. Sakura and Naruto shared a resigned look, their first in years, and quickly tied the blindfolds around their eyes. Complete blackness. Would be scary but hay he lived through a war.

"Now what do we do? We can talk but can't see, Sasuke can see but can't talk. Trading information is going to be hell." Naruto mused out loud.

"Mmmghhhfmuh?"

"Sasuke that isn't going to work." Sakura said hesitantly.

"Use your grunts Teme." Naruto said suddenly, "I can understand them pretty well."

Sasuke sighed, "Hn hnn hn …hn?"

"He's asking if we know the leaf silent talking." Naruto told Sakura. Sasuke didn't say anything so he assumed it was correct. Pakkun snorted with laughter.

"That's the one with fingers tapping right? No, you?"

"No." Naruto sighed, "I do know some Morse if that helps?"

"Hn."

"A bit, the basics, nothing more than that." Sakura sighed.

"Hn hn hnn hn...hn hn hnnn hn."

"Err you two are idiots, why am I on a team with you? This is working fine with Naruto translating me to Sakura." Naruto cocked his head and translated. "I can't understand everything you say Teme, remember that. But it could work."

"How can you understand Sasuke so well?" Sakura asked curiously.

Because I was on his team for months was his mental reply. "Err the Uchiha police used to look after me when I was younger." It was true….kind of. He felt Sasuke stiffen ahead of him and kicked himself. "They were good people." He continued. Sasuke stalked ahead, dark intentions rolling off him like mist. Man Naruto had his own radar now going by Sasuke's killing intent.

"Sooo plan. How do we track down Kakashi sensei?" He said cheerily.

"Ask his friends? Check his haunts."

"Hn…hn."

"That is a good idea…grab him." Pakkun was laughing so hard that he didn't even notice the Uchiha sneaking close and scooping him up and holding him so he couldn't struggle.

"Hey, hey puppies! This is against the rules! Put me down!"

"Right after you lead us to Kakashi sensei" Naruto could practically hear the sharp smile in Sakura's words.

"Puppies…I'm warning you…"

"Pakkun," Naruto cut in, "You lead us to Kakashi sensei we'll get you some nice roast beef. All warm and crackled and juicy." Hehheh advantages of being from the future. Pakkun whined in consideration.

"I'll give you a clue puppies but you owe me that beef mind!"

"Fine." Sakura agreed, "What is the clue?"

"He's not where he usually is. Goodbye puppies, get Kakashi to summon me for my beef! Maybe I'll even let you touch my paw…if you're good." Pakkun dispelled himself chuckling evilly in a way only dogs can.

"How on earth is that helpful!?" Sakura screamed.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed darkly.

"Pwahahahaha." Naruto agreed.

"What's so funny Naruto?" Sakura asked baffled losing all of her wind.

"Oh my god that was epic! I have to do that one day! Ok cross these places off the list. Memorial stone…that's it."

"That leaves the rest of Konoha you baka!" Sakura shrieked apparently having found her wind again.

"Hn hn hnn hn!"

Naruto thought for a bit, "If you two are quite done, we can go ask some Jonin I think that was where sensei is? Was that right?"

"Hn."

"Okay Sasuke which way? This way?" Sakura started walking.

"No!" and "Hn!" were done at the same time, "Sakura! You're going to crash into the stumps!"

Sakura froze, "Ahh thanks guys."

"Hn hn ….hn hn ..hn"

"Turn around 50 metres forward, turn left, 25 m, third on the right, 10 m, 2nd left, 30 m, turn clockwise…slow down Teme!"

"Hn!"

"Oh sorry second on the right! Geez."

Sasuke sighed in irritation before grabbing each of their arms and dragging them along the route not caring if they stumbled or tripped or even dragged along the dust. He wanted training dammit.

"Sasuke! Please a little more careful!"

"Temeeeeeee! Go faaaster!" Naruto was gleeful, Sasuke was going the work and he could relax. Ahh sweet laziness…maybe Shikamaru had infected him more than he thought? His dream ended roughly as he dumped unceremoniously in front of a very noisy …very smelly place.

"Did you bring us to a bar?" He asked seconds before Sakura.

"Hn."

"He says obviously." Naruto grouched.

"Where are we?" Sakura asked brushing off her dress.

"Hhhnn."

"Naruto?"

"Yeah…I got no clue."

They stepped in cautiously. Sakura and Naruto using their feet to scout ahead. Their ears were ringing from the noise so they were pretty much helpless. Sasuke just grabbed them and dragged them in again. They walked in.

"Yeah so I tell her-"

"Mate you need to get-"

"And it goes KABOOM-"

"I have this excellent new toy…heyyy is that Cyclops's team!? Yoo hoo! Brats! Over here!"

"Who is that?" Sakura hissed, "She sounds loud."

Naruto was trying very hard not to break out crying, "That's Anko." He hissed loud enough for Sasuke to hear too. "She's crazy. The minute you see her reach for a kunai, duck!"

"Hn?"

"I know because I'm awesome dammit! Now stop questioning me!" Naruto hissed.

There was a whoosh of air in front of them. By Sasuke's stiffening and the sudden smell of wet snakes Naruto guessed Anko had flickered in front of them out of patience. What was that? 10 seconds? New record possibly?

"Brats! I am the super sexy and single Anko Mitarashi! And you must be the old geezer's team!"

"Like the dango?" Sakura ventured timidly.

"Exactly like the dango! The food of the gods!" Anko literally drooled over the thought of her dango. "You a fellow dango fan pinky? Why on earth are you and blondie blindfolded? You broody, answer me!"

"Hn."

"He says he would love to but he can't at the minute." Naruto helpfully provided. Sasuke growled and started moving frantically. His best guess? Anko had grabbed him and smooshed their cheeks together.

"Aww is big bad Kakashi being mean to the poor little genin?"

"I do like dango yes." Sakura finally answered the question.

"Wahey!" From Sasuke's alarmed grunt he had been tossed aside roughly. Good let him know how that feels. "With me Pinky!" And so Sakura was dragged away screaming. And Naruto was completely lost. Too much noise, too many scents and for god's sake could he find some sane person who didn't stink of alcohol? Oooh silence from a corner on his far left. He would have killed for sage mode as he tripped/clattered his way over knocking into barstools, tables, and people. A few kind shinobi set him on the right path but a few mean ones just spun him around laughing. Finally he collapsed in front of what he thought was the table of silence.

"…Hi?" He tried weakly.

"Hello." A slightly amused baritone replied. Ibiki his mind provided.

"Ah mister do you know where Kaka sensei is?" He tried to employ his puppy dog eyes no jutsu even with the blindfold but he suspected he miserably failed.

"No."

"Seriously no idea where he could be?"

"No."

"But you're his friend?"

"Shinobis don't have friends."

"Eternal rival?"

"Do I sound like Gai to you brat?"

"Pleaseeeee."

"Brat I really have no idea."

"Okay can you tell me his usual haunts?"

"Why?"

"We're trying to track him down but I lost my team mates to some wild predators." He shrugged.

"Hmm. Ask Gai, he usually has a radar for his eternal rival. God knows Kakashi has complained about it so many times."

"Know where Gai could be?"

"Training field 9 or anywhere on the dirt track around Konoha. Just stand still and you'll eventually hear him. Now leave me in peace!"

"Ok thanks mister!"

"Hmm."

"Oh wait! Can you point me in the direction of my team mates?"

"Two and Eight O clock."

"Thanks! Owwwww." Naruto's head smashed into a shinobi's sword.

"Sorry kid."

"Hayate, stop braining defenceless genin." Came an amused female voice as Naruto staggered away.

"I'm fine…I'm fine…really." He murmured as he tracked Sasuke by his killer intent. He came to a halt beside his angry team mate.

"Sasuke we need to leave."

"Hn!"

"Yes I am telling you! Now where's Sakura?"

"Hn." Sasuke dragged Naruto over.

"Oww is that your default mode or something?"

"…"

"Sakura?" He hissed.

"Go away! I am talking to my new apprentice!" Anko hit him over the head. He saw stars instantly. "Ooooh pwetty lights…"

"Sasuke save me!" squeaked Sakura.

"You know I could save you just fine?" Naruto slurred from the floor. "I think I'm getting drunk off the fumes Hehheh."

Sasuke shot him an alarmed look. His dad had regaled both him and that man with tales for years about a drunk bloody red Habanero. Knowing his luck the woman and his team mate would end up being related. Property damage did not begin to cover it.

From Sakura's squeak, Naruto guessed Anko had hugged her tight.

"You can't have my new apprentice. She's adorable!"

"Hn hn hn."

"I agree with him, you are drunk."

"Of course I'm drunk brats! I'm at a bar!"

"We'll trade you." Naruto said suddenly, "We'll talk Kakashi into letting Sakura hang out with you, in return you release Sakura to us."

"I can do that myself maggots. Why do I need your help?"

"Hn hn hnnn."

"What he said."

"What did he say? I'm not fluent in Uchiha." Anko admitted.

"Kakashi will run in the opposite direction if he sees you coming." Naruto lied through his teeth. Hey he was a shinobi, he could do that. Hey Kakashi had told him he wanted Sakura and Anko to talk, this just got two objectives done at the same time; three if you counted his.

"That is true." Anko murmured, "Fine I give you Cherry chan and you get Kakashi to agree."

"Done." Naruto announced and there was a brief fumble as a blind genin and a drunk jonin tried to shake hands. Sakura was promptly released.

"Remember maggots I will…be watching…" Anko loomed before flickering away.

"NARUTO!" Sakura punched him. "What did you just so!?" There was a hysterical note in her voice.

"Ah Cherry chan…oww I mean Sakura," Naruto backed up slowly as Sasuke huffed in amusement, "I got you loose…"

"And told her I would study under her!" Sakura shrieked, "Are you insane?"

"Hn."

"See even Sasuke agrees she's strong. You'll get wicked awesome in no time Cherry chan. Oww! Stop hitting me! What did she talk to you about anyway?"

"Naruto you idiot! Mostly uses of poisons, BAKA! Dango flavours, I can't believe you did that! How to kill someone with a dango stick." Even Sasuke looked a bit disturbed at that one.

"See you'll be an awesome kunoichi. You can't learn how to be a kunoichi from Kaka sensei…please stop hitting me?" He squeaked.

"Fine." Sakura grudgingly stopped. "I suppose she is confident and strong." Sasuke coughed into his fist.

"Hn hhn."

"Yes! I do have a plan. We have to find Gai sensei, he should know where Kaka sensei is.

"

"Know where he should be?"

"Yeah training ground 9 or on the dirt track around Konoha. Don't worry it's easy to track him."

"Why?"

"You know the background shouting you always drown out? It's him."

"Oh wow."

"Sasuke lead the way."

"Hn!"

"You kind of are our delivery service Sasuke."

"Cherry chan you can understand him!"

"…"

…..

Kakashi meanwhile was having fun rifling through the Academy's records.

"Ahh Mister Hatake what are you looking for?" And confusing the cute chunin teacher of course.

"Maa anything and everything." He pulled out records from the very start of his student's school lives.

Iruka looked so baffled, "If you want records on Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, I do have them all categorised in a separate folder."

Kakashi froze. "Why…?"

"I do it for every genin team just in case. It finally paid off."

Kakashi leapt to his feet noting he was about a head taller than the teacher. What? He analysed everyone. It didn't mean anything.

"You…are amazing." He eye smiled and let the baffled teacher lead him to the huge stacks of folders.

"Mister Hatake I sent a copy to your house." Kakashi's mind stopped. A chunin knew where he lived! Why? How? How had he missed the delivery? What if other people found out where he lived!? Oh yeah he was camping over at Genma's until the blood from the latest assassin got out of the walls. That explained why the chunin was so confused.

"How did you?"

"I asked Mister Maito to drop it off." His mind stopped coming up with gruesome scenarios. The Chunin turned big innocent eyes to him, which really hid a sneaky evil manipulative personality Kakashi was sure, no one was that nice.

"Ah."

"How are they?"

"Eh? They're fine. On a training exercise at the minute."

"Oh good." The chunin pulled out a heavy folder. Kakashi eyed it in trepidation, "Why is it so big?"

"Blame Naruto." The chunin said dryly, "There's Sasuke's psych evaluations too. Sakura was the golden girl."

Kakashi took the folder and flicked through it and grimaced.

"Ahh Mister Hatake-"

"Kakashi," he interrupted, "We're fellow shinobi here."

"Ah…Kakashi my class is coming in? You want a seat at the back?" Gods the man sounded so nervous talking so casually to him.

He considered, "Why not? Can't make it too hard for them." He plopped down in one of the undersized chairs, his feet splayed out as he spread documents over the tiny table. He could use the chance to evaluate the academy. He told himself very firmly he wasn't watching the Chunin.

Tiny brats filtered in. They were even smaller than his kids, they were so cute at that age he mused. Very not covered in blood and mud and very not jaded from killing too early. A Hyuuga flounced up to him.

"You're in my seat." She told him primly who had to fight back a laugh.

"Maa I don't see a seat." He looked around teasingly.

"You've covered it with your papers and body." The girl hissed.

"You mean my seat? Finders keepers."

The tiny Hyuuga stomped her tiny foot, "But it had my name on it." He turned around and sure enough there was a neat Hanabi Hyuuga sticker on it. He produced a pen from his pocket, showed the kid and proceeded to write his name next to hers.

"There it's got my name on it now." He eye smiled at her who looked aghast.

"You can't do that!" She pouted.

"Hanabi sit down." Iruka barked from the front, "Take the seat next to Konohamaru." The girl glared at him and stomped off. He waved cheekily at her back before turning his attention back to the documents. He cast a light genjutsu on them to stop the kids from seeing what he was doing.

Sakura:…very good chakra control…good for genjutsu, really? Maybe when she wasn't so obsessed over Sasuke. Excellent theory…maybe he could push her down the fuinjutsu route? Less than average stamina, speed and endurance…Gai…was his solution to everything…even though it disturbed him greatly. Personality…avid fan girl…oh? Rivalry with a Yamanaka, what with?...oh Sasuke again. He was definitely getting Anko to talk with the girl.

"Konohamaru! Put that water balloon down!" the sensei's voice brought him back to the classroom just in time to see a chalk missile bounce off a boy's forehead with unerring accuracy and power. The boy yelped and rubbed at it.

"But Iruka sensei!"

"Pay attention to the board! You will need to know how to do the Henge!"

"Yes sensei." The boy slumped down but the mischievous twinkle didn't die down. He felt sorry for the poor chunin. Naruto just left and Konohamaru arrived.

"Okay since some of you obviously understand, line up! We'll try to do the henge again."

The children grumbled and shot glares at Konohamaru who just laughed them off. Kakashi's lips twitched, if he read the boy correctly this would be an amusing experience.

"Who should we try to do sensei?" A girl piped up.

Iruka just nodded at Kakashi. Everyone turned to look in unison. Kakashi just waved and smiled.

"He's so strange." A boy complained.

"It'll give you practice with unusual people." Iruka retorted.

…Thanks sensei…Kakashi went dryly in his head.

The first few attempts were dreadful. Kakashi just looked back down to avoid himself the humiliation and pain his image was going through at the hands of the children.

Sasuke:…top in all of his classes…no surprise there. Oh wait he was second in two. Trap making and history, taken by Naruto and Sakura respectively. Hmm interesting. Maybe he should nudge Sasuke down the medical route…if he could spin it to sound like he'd have a better chance against Itachi. Yes that idea had merit, it would hopefully thaw him out saving lives and tie him to Konoha more…excellent stamina, speed and power…didn't really tell him anything…personality…brooding…was that the best word they had for it?

The Hyuuga girl's voice jerked his attention back.

"Henge!" A picture perfect henge of Kakashi. He was somewhat impressed with the way she had arranged the crinkles in his clothing to read out _I am a jerk_.

"Very good Hanabi!" Iruka said approvingly. "Next."

Konohamaru stepped up. "Get ready sensei!"

Both Kakashi and Iruka felt the same foreboding of doom at the same time.

"HENGE!"

The smoke cleared to reveal a pretty brown haired girl cooing at Iruka sensei with the smoke in strategic places only to scream in outrage when Iruka had his back firmly turned. The henge dispelled.

Iruka's voice was strained, "You're not the first one to pull that on me. And where did you learn such a trick!?" He whirled around causing Konohamaru to meep and try to hide.

Kakashi was very, very, very amused at the antics of both Naruto and Konohamaru. He pitied who ever got Konohamaru in the future as a student.

"NARUTOOO!" Iruka screamed in frustration, "Even when he's graduated he's still causing me grief!" The girls meanwhile converged on the pale Konohamaru cracking their fists. Kakashi tuned out the sweet sounds of a brawl and went back to his documents.

Naruto:…dead last or near dead last in everything but trap setting…good to see pranking has some benefits…only failed stealth because jumpsuit gave him away…that shouldn't be a problem anymore…nearly always late…immature…oh a note saying he mastered both henge and Kawarimi…he had seen the henge mastery but not Kawarimi mastery. Excellent endurance, average speed and pitiful execution…oh dear. Personality…grating…how lovely…who wrote this...ah the traitor chunin. If Sakura would be the genjutsu and fuinjutsu person, Sasuke the healer and ninjutsu then Naruto had to do the taijutsu and demolitions? He had a feeling he was making an awful mistake with demolitions but he clamped that down.

He shifted and three sheets fluttered down. He picked them up. Three copies of their ninja registration. A pinkette, raven and redhead…wait what? He flicked to the redhead's form. Naruto Uzumaki was apparently a red head with pale skin and blue lips. What was it with Naruto and red heads? According to his file he hadn't shown inclination to this kind of forward thinking at all. So he hid this…why? Did he want to be the dead last to get on Sasuke's and Sakura's team? The file did mention a one sided crush on the girl. A crush…he had seen no evidence for. Perhaps he just didn't want persecution for the Kyuubi…but he didn't know about the Kyuubi until a few days ago. Ahh the chunin in front of him was there around about the change in Naruto should have taken place. He narrowed his eye at the chunin and saw him fidget slightly before barking out "Next."

_The hunt was on and he didn't intend to lose._

…..

"Hnn."

"Training round 9. So this is what it sounds like."

Loud clangs of metal off metal, things whistling through the air, wood cracking, ground tearing, loud voices, thumps and bumps and every so often the tearing of feet.

"I think we found Team 9." Sakura whispered slightly intimidated.

"Hello?" Naruto called out cheerfully. Lee, Neji and Tenten had been excellent friends in the future, after Neji got his ass handed to him.

"Yosh! We have visitors Gai sensei!" Lee's voice rang out and the noise didn't exactly stop, it just toned down slightly. "Are you looking for someone?" Judging from the volume, Lee had jogged up to them and was now directly in front of them.

"Our sensei." Sakura said calmly, "We were hoping your sensei might be able to help us."

"You're Lee right!?" Naruto bounced forward and nearly collided with Lee.

"Yes?"

"It's great finally meeting you! Naruto Uzumaki, fellow dead last of the year after you, I heard all about you!"

"Yosh! A fellow follower of hard work and youth?!"

"Hard work yeah, youth not so much."

"Keep at it Naruto! Your youth will blaze to the skies! Who is the youthful flower behind you and the silent boy?"

Naruto pointed in what he hoped was the right direction, "Sakura and Sasuke."

"Sakura…will you go out with me? I'll protect you until the day I die!"

Sakura stopped, this time she couldn't see Lee and therefore couldn't reject him on his appearance. "Err I have someone l like," she steeled herself, "I'd rather be able to protect myself on my own abilities." Talking to Anko who ranted on about weak kunoichis had altered her outlook slightly.

"Great! Tenten here, fellow kunoichi and can I say it is great to meet another serious kunoichi." A female voice cut in cheerfully and dragged away Sakura, "Let's talk!"

Lee pouted from the sounds of it. "It's nice to meet you Sasuke." He said politely, "How does your youth do?"

"Hn."

"Don't take it personally, he can't talk at the minute." Naruto intervened quickly, "He says it's nice to meet you back." Sasuke hadn't but a white lie never hurt anyone.

"Ohh! A training exercise, that is so youthful! And you thought Gai sensei could track down his eternal rival?!

"Exactly." Naruto grinned.

"Asking for help is a weak thing to do." Neji's voice smoothly cut in, "However it isn't a surprise you need the help, maybe it is your fate."

"You are…?"

"Neji Hyuuga."

"Nice to meet you." Naruto said politely. Oh great this Neji still had his fate obsession, "Is it really fate when you don't know what else could have happened?"

"Nothing else could have happened." Neji returned calmly, "That is why it is fate."

"Ahhh Kakashi's youthful students! Hello!" A deeper voice boomed out. "What brings you here?"

"Gai sensei?" Naruto asked seeing that Sakura had been effectively hauled off somewhere again and Sasuke was probably too busy rechecking his eyes to greet the man.

"Yosh! It is I. How can I help you?"

"Gai sensei! They were wondering if you could tell them where Kakashi sensei was!" Lee burst out.

"Of course! My eternal rival is always on my radar of youth!...Academy, Classroom 3E. Back seat."

Team 7 stared at him. They had not expected when he said radar, he actually meant radar!

"Thanks." Naruto strangled out. "That is amazing by the way, can you teach us?"

"Eternal rival secret I'm afraid!"

"Damn."

"Thanks we'll just go now." Sakura fell over trying to get back to her team. Tenten guided her back kindly, "Thanks."

"Sasuke! Forward march!"

"Hn hn hhn hnn..hn."

Sakura giggled, "You can rip his head off later Sasuke, we need him for training."

"Good bye youthful comrades!" Lee's goodbye resonated in all their ears before the noisy team started back up again.

Sasuke grabbed his team mates and began to drag them in the academy's direction. If he didn't move Naruto out of the way of a stone, it certainly wasn't _his_ fault.

…

Kakashi lounged in his seat. He put his feet up on the desk ignoring the disapproving look of the chunin. Teachers…so rigid…all of them. That's why he resolved to be the laziest and most easy going teacher he could be unless he got annoyed of course or he wanted to drum a lesson in his kid's heads. On paper he had one of the most mismatched teams in history. In reality it was probably true. He was going to get grey hairs with this team, he was sure.

Suddenly the door banged open and his cute genin all tumbled in a pile. Sasuke's muffled grunts drowned out by Sakura's shriek. Naruto immediately turned his head in Kakashi's direction. Sensor?

"Hey! We found you." He said happily only to get yanked up by the ear by Iruka sensei. "Iruka sensei! Haven't seen you in forever!"

"Naruto." Iruka whispered deathly calm, "You graduated. Why are you back and disturbing my class?" Naruto pointed directly at him. Yup definitely a sensor.

"Hnn hn hn!"

"What he said!" Sakura groaned as she climbed off the genin pile.

"Boss!" Konohamaru exclaimed excitedly. The academy students burst into chatter at this.

"Konohamaru! Keeping up the good work?"

"Exactly like you would have done boss."

"Fantastic!"

"My cute little students." He pitched his voice to carry across the chattering children, "Training exercise complete. You can remove your limitations now." He eye smiled at the sheer speed they removed them.

"Mister Kakashi. Please take your genin far away from here." Iruka seemed like he was going to snap any second. "Before they give my students ideas."

"Good idea." He told the flustered chunin, "See you later." He shunshinned out, taking all three of his genin with him. He dumped them all in Training ground 7 as he landed smoothly.

"Sakura mission report." She scrambled up and began to tell a story. He shook his head and calmly began to coach them how to do a proper report. He had his work cut out.

**There we go, a nice light hearted chapter. Yup the hint Naruto gave that boy has resulted in another team passing mwahahaha. Sakura's slowly slowly slowly getting better. Indulge me by reviewing?**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Naruto**

"What is the distance to the target?"

"5 meters. I'm ready anytime."

"So am I."

"Crackle fiz pop."

"Naruto? You're slow."

"Sorry sensei, was working on a plan."

Kakashi thought for a second. Should he let Naruto implement his plan? Ah why not? They'd learn the horrors of Tora soon enough.

"Ok Naruto go for it. We'll herd the cat towards you….Go!"

Sasuke and Sakura shot out of the undergrowth and made a bee line for the demon. Naruto tensed inside his cage made out of henged kage bunshin. He would have to be incredibly fast. The demon yowled and caught scent of the hunt and immediately bolted. Sasuke out of patience with the evil thing began the seals for a fireball but a senbon grazing his hand put that idea out of his head as he glared at the lounging Kakashi in the trees.

"It's getting away." Kakashi warned.

The demon streaked across the dry clumped earth too fast for the genin to hope to catch. But not too fast for Naruto's kage bunshin henged as a wire to dispel and warn the original that the demon approached. Sakura threw shuriken to stop it from bypassing Naruto and finally the demon entered Naruto's line of vision. He had done most of the seals already and he quickly finished the final seal.

_Kawarimi._

The cat ran full tilt into reinforced layers of henged kage bunshin. It almost dispelled all the layers so Naruto hurriedly formed new layers around it to stop it from escaping again. It screamed inside the cage as Naruto grinned at it from outside.

"Aww isn't the little kitty cute?" A paw lashed out through the bars and mauled his cheek open. "Oww!"

"Don't taunt the Hanbunbi dobe." Sasuke commented wearily.

Sakura on the other hand, "Cute! What on earth is your definition of cute?"

Kakashi drawled into his receiver, "Are you sure it is the target, Tora?"

Sasuke replied, "Yeah, we're sure."

"Good. Lost pet Tora search mission … complete. Now get it back before it bursts too many layers and escapes."

…..

"NYAAAAAA!" The cat screamed as it was snuggled up to Madam Shinji's face. They even almost felt sorry for it.

"Oh my cute little Tora chan. I was so worried."

Naruto leant back to hiss, "See, she agrees it's cute." Everyone stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't in good faith call Tora a demon anymore.

The Hokage hmmed and pulled out a list of D ranks, "Now Kakashi's squad 7, your next duty is…hmm…babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighbouring village and help with the potato digging."

Naruto sniffed the air. A faint smell of sake, it was time for the C rank from hell. He needed to make a decision in the next five seconds. To go or not to go? Sasuke got his Sharingan which was the start of a whole lot of woe but it strengthened their resolves as ninja. Ah hell he liked Zabuza and Haku.

"Nononononono! Can't we have a better mission!? I mean genin can take C ranks too!" His team let out a sigh behind him.

"You idiot! You're just a rookie!" Iruka yelled, "All ninja start off low and work their way up."

"Yes! But how are we meant to test ourselves on D ranks? Time how long it takes to weed a flower bed?"

"D ranks are perfect for rookie ninja like you. They are sorted on difficulty levels after all!"

Kakashi bopped Naruto on the head, "I apologise for him. I haven't covered protocol yet." He sighed.

"I'm not the trouble making brat you think I am." Naruto said softly. Iruka closed his eyes in defeat as the Hokage slowly nodded.

"Ok since you want it that much."

Kakashi's eye widened, surely he wasn't giving them a mission outside the village! Their combat ability wasn't up to par yet! And the Kyuubi may be influencing Naruto! To be fair the Hokage had no way of knowing that…since Kakashi hadn't reported it like he should have.

"It's the protection of a certain individual."

"Who is it?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I'm about to introduce you…hey will you come in here?"

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially the shortest one with the super stupid looking face. Are you really a ninja? Hey!" Tazuna leant against the door with his familiar bottle of sake.

Naruto's smile strained. "Don't hate it cuz you can't have it." He borrowed one of Fu's expressions to quip back at Tazuna. The Hokage started wondering if he had made a mistake.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me with super good protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge." Tazuna ignored Naruto as did everybody else.

"Don't worry." Naruto couldn't help but dig, "We're _perfectly capable _of taking care of some bandits." From Tazuna's little squirm he hit the guilt dead on. "All right team meet up at the gate in an hour's time. Dismissed." Naruto turned to leave when suddenly the door flung open, nearly hitting him and Ibiki came storming in.

"Hokage! Do you still have the wave mission!?"

"I just gave it to Team 7." The Hokage asked puzzled.

"Bump it to a high A rank. Orochimaru's been spotted in that area! Intel's just come in." Naruto's little dream world shattered with the sound of chiming bells. Orochimaru should be in the hidden Sound! Why was he in Wave? Sound was in the other direction! Something had gone wrong! He panicked mentally. Well good thing was if it was an A rank, Tazuna would get the protection he needed legally this time but what the hell! He hadn't changed that much to make fricking Orochimaru move across the world early.

"I'm sorry Team 7. I'll get you another C rank to do. Tazuna san we'll discuss payment options afterwards." The Hokage looked down at his list. Tazuna nodded and wandered away, with him the hope of a secure future. Naruto agonised over the development and what it meant for him. In the long term probably nothing but if Orochimaru was moving…

Kakashi picked up that something was causing Naruto distress. "You didn't get attached to that old man already did you? We'll just get another C rank." He drawled wheeling Naruto to face the Hokage.

"Well Team 7 you have a choice. There's reports of a wild animal by a small village near Tanzaki Gai or you can give Tora a bath?"

"Wild animal!" Team 7 shrieked.

"I thought so too. Here's the mission details Kakashi. Dismissed."

Kakashi scanned it, "Right my cute students, East gate at one hour. Pack for two weeks at most." He jumped out of the window muttering about something.

"Why do I even bother installing a door?!" The Hokage threw his arms up.

…..

Team 7 met up by the gates. Well most of Team 7. Their sensei was nowhere to be seen. Naruto sighed and turned to Sakura and Sasuke and thrust leaves in their direction.

"The exercise for fire is to burn one side while leaving the other side unburnt. The exercise for lightning is to cause the leaf to crumple. Have fun you guys." From the glint in his eye Sasuke and Sakura understood they were in for some trying times. He went back to trying to cut his leaf in half. It had a pretty decent shaped cut, more than half way since he already knew the trick. Where on earth was he going to find a waterfall after this?

"Yo!" Kakashi sauntered over, "Good you're all here."

"You're late!" Sakura shrieked.

"I'm not late, you're just ridiculously early." Kakashi sniffed. "You lot know which direction Tanzaki Gai is?"

Naruto pointed in the correct direction absentmindedly while trying to finish cutting the damn leaf!

"That's correct Naruto." Kakashi said cheerfully, "Right there's a mysterious animal yadda yadda we have to kill it, any questions?"

"Yes. How does it terrorise the villagers?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi turned to him, "It kills their children." He said simply, "One every night. No one's seen it, just heard it…they described it as a cracking sound." He loomed over them, the light flickering on his face ominously.

"This is a C rank?" Sakura asked incredulously, "Mysterious monsters carrying off children."

Kakashi slouched back, "Maa don't fret Sakura, it's probably a wild bird of some sorts going after the smallest prey. Shuriken and kunai will bring it down and you'll have a chance to practise your dynamic aiming, since all of you are terrible at that."

Well Naruto thought, it was better than the training Kakashi drilled into them in the last week. High lights included strapping Sakura to a fan which randomly shot senbon, throwing her to fly on the wind currents then telling Naruto and Sasuke to shoot her down without hurting her. They mostly spent the time dodging their own missiles as they fell back to the earth after missing and listening to a swearing screaming Sakura. Anko really rubbed off on her hmm. Then Sakura crashed into a bird, how on earth was that possible? And went smashing down on the two of them.

Then there was blind man's bluff…with fricking land mines. All three of them wound up in the hospital with Kakashi lecturing them and generally terrorising the hospital staff. Training ground 7 would always have a barren spot in the middle of all the trees in memorandum. Then Kakashi thought it would be fun to set the ANBU trainees on them to see their speed under motivation. Konoha was treated to the strange sight of three rookie genin in crutches leaping out of a hospital window and hightailing it out of there while seven white blurs chased them with tantos. After that it was quite low level stuff with team work exercises…of course it had them all as taut as a wire wondering when and where the next attack would be from. They tiptoed everywhere, they didn't even dare to breathe too loudly and after the third day when they began to relax…Kakashi came after them with a battle axe (!?), while lecturing them on the shinobi code so they couldn't even run away and hide!

The last two days were absolutely terrifying. Kakashi had handed them off to Anko…enough said…

He really thought Team 7 had bonded this time around…

Kakashi clapped his hands, "Ok show me your packs people!"

Sasuke went first, "Two changes of clothes, kunai, shuriken, sleeping bag, tent, some food, some utensils and a med kit."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Med kit?"

"I'd rather not come back in pieces and Sakura's too busy with her scribblings." Sakura looked a bit sheepish. Kakashi had introduced her to sealing the week before as a way to seal explosions, it was the primary reason they weren't all dead from blind man's bluff. Since she was too busy with sealing, Sasuke had been forced to pick up the slack with the medical knowledge. Naruto had offered but Sasuke had almost snapped his head off in refusing.

"Fair enough, Sakura?"

"Two changes of clothes, wire, senbon, a sealing book, sleeping bag, food, rudimentary poisons kit and some utensils."

Kakashi held up the make-up box. "Rudimentary poisons kit? Nice. Anko's work?"

"Yup, she also gave me this." Sakura pointed to the glittery butterfly brooch in her hair. Everyone had winced upon seeing it.

"…Anko gave you that monstrosity?" Kakashi repeated slowly, was the sky still blue? In response Sakura pulled on the body revealing it to be a small blade. "It's for a last ditch protection apparently, I didn't get what she meant by that." She admitted.

"I'll get someone to explain afterwards." Kakashi quickly changed the subject, "Naruto?"

"Two changes of clothes, kunai, sleeping bag, food, exploding tags, every type of bomb I could get my hands on and some utensils."

Kakashi gingerly held up some dynamite. "Isn't this going a bit too far?" Naruto snatched it away and hugged it like a teddy bear, "It's protection."

"Well, let it be known I am not always not nice. Who am I to take away your protection? Ok team pack back up again and we'll move out."

Kakashi was watching their reactions carefully, this would be their first times of stepping outside Konoha. It was quite sweet to watch the rookie genin's expressions apparently.

Sasuke was as blank faced as ever and glaring at a leaf. Ok…that was in profile. Sakura was clasping her hands together and glaring at them. Was she praying? And Naruto…looked five seconds from using his dynamite on whatever was in his hand. Note: Put in Naruto's profile, the title 'Most unpredictable ninja' really, really suits him.

Another tick in the 'all Jonin are liars' column.

He sighed and resigned himself to a quiet trip all the way there, he pulled out his book and flipped to his favourite chapter. Note: When the Toad Sannin came over, ask him about any new releases.

BANG. He whirled around, kunai at the ready. How had an enemy snuck on them? His students! He'd kill them al-

Sasuke and Sakura stood stock still with shocked expressions and singed faces. Naruto was rolling on the ground with laughter. He sighed and drooped, tucking away his kunai he asked if they were planning to give away their location to everyone in a mile's radius.

"Elemental practice?" He asked amused. "You do know that's a Chunin level skill?...All three of you are trying?"

"Yes." Sasuke spoke.

"In what elements?" Kakashi wasn't proud, pssh who would be? His genin working hard on their own to develop a skill.

"Fire for me, Lightning and fire for Sasuke and Wind for Naruto." Sakura answered.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Dual natures…that's rare. Wind's also rare in this parts of the world…We're a very offensive orientated team seeing I'm Lightning. At least no element can overpower all of us, well if you work out the basic exercises…"

"Can you tell us about elemental natures sensei?" Naruto asked curiously, he never had the full version explained before.

Kakashi kept reading and started to drawl in a bored tone, "The five basic elemental natures are Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning and Wind. There are two more Yang and Ying, those are involved in the non-elemental jutsus but it's rare for non-clan kids to have them. The order I said is the wheel of chakra domination but wind beats fire. That's only if they're of equal strength, otherwise a stronger fire can beat a weaker water, understand? And so forth. The Lands of Fire, Wind and so forth are named for the most populous chakra types, so most common in Konoha is Fire. They tend to accumulate in the areas they are most dangerous, in a forest fire is un-paralled in destruction. In the desert, wind can strip meat from bones in seconds, you get the idea. Most shinobi master only two elements with a passing ability in a third. A mastery in four elements is worthy of an S rank title." He took a breath and started talking about combining two elements to form other elements.

"Like Hyouton and Mokuton?" Sakura asked.

"Exactly."

"Sasuke can you combine your two natures?" Sakura asked curiously.

He shook his head, "Could do at a higher level." He murmured thoughtfully.

"Hey! Between us we have Scorch, Blaze and Magnet release!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

Kakashi bopped him lightly, "If you can get your chakra transformations to work." He stressed the 'if'. In response Naruto held up a bisected leaf, eyes glinting happily. Kakashi was stunned silent. How long had he been working on this? It took months on the first stage! This was prodigious! How was Naruto the dead last again?

"Ah." Came the pleased sound from Sakura as she held up a burning leaf on one side. Everyone's jaws dropped. She had literally 15 minutes! Naruto was trying not to let his jaw hit the ground, it was understandable for him! He had done this before and knew the trick and it still took him several days! Sakura had done in it…fricking 15 minutes! Kakashi was trying hard not to cackle with glee, a team of ninjutsu prodigies. Oh how Kami loved him. That was some serious chakra control.

"Howw?" Naruto choked out.

"It was easy, following the first explosion I knew how much chakra to use, and the only tricky part was changing it to fire. It was pretty easy restricting the actual fire itself; it's my chakra after all." Sakura preened under the attention. Naruto felt like crying, please let Sasuke take a long time…

"Here." Sasuke said simply as he held up a crumpled leaf. Everyone had just finished picking up their jaws and they dropped again. "I already knew how to change my chakra to fire; it's pretty easy to change it to lightning after that."

"How long did it take you to change to fire?" Kakashi asked in a strained voice.

"A week?" Naruto face planted then grinned. His team was awesome!

"You guys…it takes months of work to do the first stage." Kakashi choked out.

"I guess we're special." Sasuke had a pleased glint in his eye. No one missed the 'we' term he used.

Kakashi chuckled, "Okay my cute students, next exercise for you. Naruto infuse the air with your chakra and try to create air currents to control the flight of leaves. Sakura create a small mind small fire ball and change the shape of it. Sasuke try and zap passing insects." Yes he skipped several training stages but he was curious, sue him. From the curious look Naruto shot him, he had noticed too.

….

All the way to Tanzaki Gai there were just noises of pure frustration behind Kakashi. He smiled at the half strangled scream Sakura did before snapping his book shut.

"Ok team! The village is now off the road. Follow me and _do not get lost._"

Team 7 gazed at the veritable jungle off the track and gulped. Arched trees looped off into the distance, the vines and shadows creating unusual arcing shadows like half sickle cuts in the greenery.

"I rescind my scepticism about there being a mysterious monster out of a horror story and now ask why there aren't several monsters every week." Sasuke snarled as they fought their way through tough tangled vines.

Sakura tripped for the thousandth time, got absolutely fed up and turned to Naruto. "Naruto! Blow us a path to kingdom come?"

"…Brilliant idea!" Naruto had the dynamite out faster than Kakashi could stop him but the water jutsu from his mouth prevented the blond from doing anything rash.

"No blowing up the forest." He chided. "It's only two more hours walk. You can handle it." The triple look of horror was worth all the twigs in his hair.

…..

A long two hours later, three thoroughly scratched, battered and irritated genin collapsed on the outskirts of a strange village. Their pristine sensei except for the hair hauled them back up again and mostly prodded and poked them into crossing the salt boundary line.

"Salt?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Aye lad." A stocky woman jumped over a small precipice to land in front of them. "Salt keeps it away. Burns it with a single touch. You're the shinobi we asked for?"

"Yes." Kakashi answered, "I'm Kakashi, and these are Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. What exactly is the problem?"

"My name is Hilgride, problem is there's a beast lurking beyond the line. Every night it steals a child." She spat on the ground, "And every morning we find the poor bugger on the path."

"There's a path!" Naruto picked up, "There's a _path!?_" He glared accusingly at Kakashi. Hilgride looked at him strangely, "Of course there's a path. There always is a path."

Sasuke asked sharply, "How does it steal?"

Hilgride was looking worried, "I hadn't expected kids. You might have brought them into danger Mister Kakashi. No lad, it can't cross the salt line. No one knows how it steals, there's just silence then an awful cracking starts up and when it stops the child is gone.."

Kakashi furrowed his brows, "So we're dealing with a monster whom you haven't seen, is allergic to salt and lures its prey out? Don't worry about the danger, any of them lowers their guard enough to be taken and I'll go after them with a vengeance." The three genin exchanged wide eyed looks.

"What did you mean on the path? What state?" Sakura piped up.

"I meant…" Hilgride looked troubled, "They're like thick pancakes."

"Huh?" was the general reaction.

"Crispy?"

"No lad, more like no more than 1 inch thick splattered across the dirt."

Sakura went green. Kakashi's eye widened.

"They're not missing any body parts? Haven't been eaten or anything?"

Hilgride answered dryly, "It's a bit difficult to check Master Shinobi."

"Of course."

Sakura turned to Kakashi, "This is a _C rank?_" Kakashi too was frowning, "You mentioned none of this in the report."

"Sure we did. Got one of our best writers and everything to write that request."

Kakashi face palmed, "I think I know what happened. Right yeah that makes sense."

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Hilgride sighed having realised too, "They thought the poor country bumpkins were exaggerating and didn't believe us."

"I'll fix that as soon as I get back." Kakashi had a dangerous gleam in his eye.

"You're not staying? Well don't go back now, it's getting dark."

"Don't tell us, things move in the dark." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"No…we have great pumpkin soup." Hilgride shrugged, "And hopefully you'll feel indebted to protect the kids for a night."

The shinobi shot her an amused look, "Not even going to try and make it subtle?"

Hilgride took one look over the striking team and smirked, "I got the feeling you guys don't do subtle."

Naruto was intrigued by all the mystery around the beast. His C rank luck had stayed true, it wasn't a C rank anymore not with the pancake kids. He didn't know what to expect…damn that was slightly scary and disturbing.

Hilgride held up the flap to a big tent, they entered to a big communal style kitchen where the fire sparked and smoked over teams of loud people chatting over food at benches.

"Are you the leader of the village?" Sakura asked Hilgride curiously.

"Hmm no lass, that would be Perenelle over there. She was too busy with the frightened kids to come greet you in person. Perenelle!"

A fierce looking woman looked up from the gaggle of children and grinned savagely.

"Hilgride! These the shinobi they sent?" She handed the kids off to a startled man and wound her way over. "Hmmf gotta say except for the tall one you don't look like much."

"Appearances are deceiving." Naruto replied smoothly.

"That they are lad that they are. I'm Perenelle, that's all you need to know, leader of this spry little cess pit. Welcome to home." She grinned showing elongated canines.

"Yo. I'm Kakashi and these are my cute genin Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. We offer protection for the night in exchange for food."

Hilgride coughed, "There was an accident with the request, they're not qualified for this."

"Well that's idiotic." Perenelle said bluntly, "I just managed to calm the kids down by saying there would be someone along to get rid of the thing. They get all upset you have to calm them down. She pointed at the assembled shinobi who nodded very quickly.

"Hmmf help yourselves to grub, sit anywhere. We keep the kids under a very close eye in the hall. We don't let them out until morning but one of them always eludes us." She hissed.

"The mysterious cracking?" Kakashi delicately raised a silver eyebrow.

"No, the double dares with melted raspberry on top." Everyone stared at the woman. "Of course the mysterious cracking!"

"How many exits are there?" Sasuke asked.

"Just the one." Hilgride inputted slightly sheepishly.

"Then HOW on earth are they eluding you?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Perenelle rolled her eyes, "And why do you think we hired shinobi in the first place? We don't know and we don't like it! There's been nine killing so far and we rather there not be a tenth." Her voice dropped impossibly low.

Kakashi nodded, "Sakura sealing traps, Naruto traps, Sasuke go intimidate the kids. I'll go scout for a bit." They blinked and he was gone in a flash of silver and navy.

"Fast." Perenelle remarked admiringly.

Sakura excused herself to go scribble on her paper in a corner. Naruto himself was free until the majority of the hall cleared out and he had the room and the security to create his traps. Sasuke did not look happy with his job one bit.

"Teme." He dropped into place beside Sasuke, "Good cop bad cop?"

"Sure." Sasuke said relieved, "Children are annoying."

"You're a child." It slipped out and Naruto cursed himself. Sasuke glared at him.

"And you're not?" He asked waspishly.

"I'm as much of a child as you are." Naruto said at last. Sasuke shot him a veiled look then smirked.

"Hn."

"Hey! I have you to fix me up don't I? I was surprised though, I didn't think you'd go for the medical stuff."

"I don't exactly have a choice do I? Sakura would have been perfect…" She was Naruto mused, two medics on one team could be useful but Kakashi had her hooked on bloody seals! "And there is no way in hell I am letting you heal me."

"I can be a good healer." He objected. He grew Kakashi's eye back didn't he?

Sasuke snorted, "Not even the Sage of the six paths could make you a healer dobe." And was promptly baffled as Naruto rolled on the floor laughing. The idea of Sasuke as a healer was strange. He couldn't connect the cold brilliant future Sasuke with a healer career at all! And Sakura going into seals was similarly unexpected. It threw off the future immensely but he didn't know whether he should change it back or not. Healer Sakura was ferocious; Sealer Sakura could be terrifying especially going by some of the cackles he had heard her do. Rogue Sasuke was brilliant; Healer Sasuke could pose a problem in the front line combat department. Then he remembered Itachi and winced, yeah there was no way Sasuke was going to ignore his combat skills. With healing skills he actually stood a better chance against Itachi. He had tried talking to Sakura about healing and she had nearly taken his head off in defence of seals. At least he had experience in making things explode.

"Dobe…" Sasuke twitched, "Get off the ground before I drag you up…"

Naruto rolled up still chuckling and waved at the scared children in the centre.

"Hello!" He called out cheerfully, "I'm Naruto, this is Sasuke we're going to protect you from the big bad beastie." Sasuke glowered down at them all, "Don't give us extra work…"

The group of about eleven children burst into tears. Even Sasuke looked startled at that reaction.

"I didn't mean…"

"Shut up Teme," Naruto said absentmindedly, "Hey don't cry. He's just a big grouch." He patted the smallest sobbing child on the back. The oldest child shot him a teary scathing look.

"We don't care about him!" She bit out, "The big bad beastie as you put it took our siblings so don't you dare take it lightly!"

"Tamaka…" One of the boys sniffed and clutched at her shirt.

Naruto was taken aback. Oh right just because he fought the Juubi and the legends of the shinobi world didn't mean he could afford to take wild beasts lightly. His face softened, these people had been terrorised by the animal…he had to show respect. He couldn't be insensitive.

"I'm sorry, I swear we'll take care of this. No one is going to die tonight and I never go back on my word. That is my ninja way." He said with conviction and the kids peered suspiciously at him.

"You're just a few years older than us. What on earth can you do? You're most likely going to be taken by the Panami' Creach! And our village will just carry on being terrorised!" A boy screamed at him.

The "Let me Dobe." Surprised Naruto. Sasuke knelt down in front of the half hysterical boy.

"You've lost family right? Close family, good friends…you've seen them die and you're terrified. You don't want to die but you don't want other people to die…I understand, I do. My clan was killed and I saw it all…afterwards they asked me a question…" Sasuke jabbed the boy in the chest, "Do you want to live and grow strong in defiance or do you want to curl up and scream at the world it isn't fair? I dedicated my life to become strong…so that my clan could be avenged down to the last infant. Get vengeance for your dead …spite the beast by not giving it your fear." The boy hiccupped but was silent.

"You talk pretty but words aren't going to fend it off." The girl said bluntly ruining the atmosphere completely. "Don't coddle us like we don't understand. They're dead and we don't want condescension." She stumbled over the last word.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks, "Who's your mother?"

"Perenelle…" It made perfect sense…

"Well shinobi we know the village better than most of the hunters. How can we help?" The girl's eyes blazed with determination behind the tears.

"You don't." Sasuke shot back bluntly ruining the atmosphere again.

Naruto shrugged, "He's right. It's too difficult to keep tabs on you all if you're everywhere."

"We want to help! We're not children!" Another girl piped up.

"Yes you are…" Sasuke looked exasperated, "You don't have the proper training and we don't know what is going on. _Stay here_."

The children looked near crying again. Naruto cut in hurriedly, "If you want to do something draw us a map of the village with all the routes in and out and the forest surrounding it." He signalled to Sakura to send them some ink and paper. They got tossed in his direction indiscriminately. He handed them to the children and the girl rapidly took charge.

"Maru draw the overall layout. Kusume do the buildings, Takami do the public routes. Aseru the secret routes. Rest of you chip in with what we've missed."

Naruto hung back with Sasuke keeping a sharp eye on all of them, "That was good what you said to them." He murmured. "It gave them a purpose."

Sasuke hmmed, "They needed a purpose. And we get information without having to work for it."

There was a silence between them. Hot and sharp and obvious. There were too many secrets, resentments and misconceptions between them to truly become friends. Team mates were business first and foremost. Friends came later, if at all in their case. They had been a twisted mockery of a friendship but the travelling had twisted it on itself for Naruto and Sasuke had no idea what his future self had.

Sakura walked up to them holding out two bowls of stew. They started.

"Did you forget to feed yourselves again?" She said dryly, "You're no use if you keel over out of hunger."

"Sorry Sakura." Naruto accepted the bowl. Sasuke nodded at her.

"What are we doing?" Sakura looked interested, "I have several barrier seals drawn up and two triggering ones. Anyone leaves we'll know."

"The story they gave is very…"

"Fantastical." Sasuke finished sourly. "A beast none of them have seen which carries off children and no one knows how?"

"Guys, ninjas blow fire, an invisible stealthy monster who squashes children can't be that improbable?" Sakura commented quietly.

"Are there any records of such an animal in the library? Sakura you should know."

She blushed slightly, "Ah no. Camouflage is a possibility though."

"What squashes children to death? Only children?" Naruto asked blankly.

"None." Sakura admitted, "That's strange, animals…even monsters have to eat."

"Exactly my cute little genin." A gloved hand sneaked in and stole some of their stew to form a new bowl. Kakashi leant against a table, dipping bread in the soup.

"Sensei!" They exclaimed.

He waved back idly, "So down that train of thought. It doesn't eat humans…good for it…what can it eat? Whatever squashed the children was large…very large…going from the uniform thickness but there aren't big enough animals around here for it to live off."

"Plant eater?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi hmmed. "Probably not, it's a good idea but most of the plants around here are poisonous."

"Really?" Sakura perked up.

"Later Sakura, I'll show you how to gather some samples. So one food group left."

"Fish." Naruto slowly smiled, "There has to be a river close by for a village or town to grow."

"Bingo." Kakashi pointed the soggy bread at Naruto. "We'll check it out in the morning, dark is here and we have a job to do."

The women and men were putting all the utensils away with a grim air now. Some of them pulled out hoes, spades and axes; some drew the children to the centre of the hall and sat in a circle around them facing the children who were still scribbling away.

"Here!" The girl called out waving a piece of paper, "We did it!" Naruto retrieved it, handed it to Sasuke and went off to implement his traps.

Sasuke spread it out over a table. Kakashi put his empty bowl down, when had that happened?

"Good going you two. A map will be helpful."

Sakura pointed out the river. "It's more up ground than the rest of the village. It winds around and continues to Tanzaki Gai. It's huge!"

Kakashi nodded but traced an area out, "The villagers have already combed this area and here. So that leaves this area. The other areas are too dense for anything of the size I'm thinking."

"How big sensei?" Sasuke asked rubbing his eyes.

"About the size of five Hokage buildings…I'd say…the poor girl's blonde hair couldn't even be seen anymore and it's the same for all the others so around 5 or 6."

"Shinobi!" Hilgride ran up to them bow slung over her shoulder. "The salt line's been broken!" She looked distraught, "We have a saboteur." She hissed. "It could be inside at this very minute, be on your guard."

Naruto came running back at that point. "All done! Just tell your men and women not to try and come inside. Sakura's seals can be activated now." He nodded at Sakura.

"Hai! Fuin!" Sakura slapped a line of ink leading to her seals. It lit up to the colour of lava then faded away flowly.

"It worked!" She bounced around like an eager child. Kakashi stopped her by placing a hand on her head. "Maaa calm down. Be on your guard, nothing can be taken for granted. Do not take your eyes off the kids. Sasuke, Naruto watch duty. I'll try and sense." He sat down in the lotus position and became instantly still.

"Well he doesn't waste any time does he?" Hilgride remarked, "Off you go you lot."

"What is he doing?" Sakura asked blankly.

Sasuke shrugged and wandered over to a window facing the forest in the direction sensei had said the animal could have its lair.

Naruto turned to Hilgride, "Did you do this for the other children?"

"The last few, yes lad."

"Can you tell me what happened?" He followed her as she leant against a pillar in full view of the silent kids. She sighed.

"I told you most of it already. Silence. Cracking noise, like a big egg actually and then the air cracks you know? It bends and shifts…it's kind of terrifying…and it grabs a child and the child disappears. The cracks go away after that."

"_The air cracks!?"_ Naruto stared at her. She looked a little sheepish, "I can't find a better word for it. You know like glass…that's it…the cracks run through it like glass."

"What made you think shinobi could help?" Naruto asked still in a high voice.

"You guys can walk on damn water…breathe fire dragons…what made you think we wouldn't?"

"Good point." Naruto turned away thinking. Air cracking? He had never heard of such a jutsu.

_Kurama? Heard of a jutsu or animal which can crack air?_

**Umm no. Interesting case though…maybe ice spirits?**

_She didn't mention a temperature drop…hmm._

**This is an extremely weird case kid.**

_Tell me about it, so made up your mind on whether we're going to be friends?_

**No. Go away.**

Naruto sighed. He rubbed his eyes, guess even backwater villages had grit.

"I swear this grit wasn't here before." He murmured.

Hilgride tensed then barked, "Everybody ready! That's the first sign kid, grit in your eye! It's coming!" She drew and strung her bow. Naruto pulled out two kunai anticipating the battle.

The room tensed suddenly, waiting with steel drawn. Tension filled the air along with the frightened breathing of the children. Which direction? Left? Right? Front? Back? People shifted on the balls of their feet.

Kakashi's eye flew open suddenly, "Huge chakra from the left!" He barked. Everyone turned to face the left just as an ominous thunderous cracking filled the room like numerous bones being broken.

**Hanbunbi is a half tailed beast. Sorry this chapter was rushed but hope you enjoy it. Leave a review if you liked it?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Lots of important things happening in this chapter. Pay attention. ^.^ and yes this arc is quite important to the story. Reviews are always welcome!**

Kakashi leapt to his feet, eyes scanning the air. In his movement he did several single handed seals and a whip of searing fire lashed around his right hand. It sizzled and hissed angrily but he stayed unaffected by his own jutsu. It was a good idea, use fire to counter air.

"Give me a wide berth." He snapped as he flicked the whip to the direction he felt the chakra. It was a very strange chakra; it seemed almost to meld into nature making estimating the size of it very difficult. The whip screamed through the air and many people ducked swearing as it smashed against a solid panel of air with a thunderous crack. A monstrous crack appeared distorting the image of the room as Perenelle hurriedly gathered the terrified children to the other side.

"What is that!?" Sakura yelled as grit obscured everyone's vision. A screeching snarling could be heard as the very air seemed to shift towards Kakashi at lightning speed. He ducked quickly, just in time as the table behind him got smashed and sliced into splintered chunks. He flicked his whip again and this time it wrapped around the top of the air and went under. Smoke and the searing stench filled the room as the air lashed away tearing the whip out of his hands and nearly burning the villagers as it went skidding against the other wall.

"Sensei! The traps haven't gone off!" Naruto yelled over the cracking. "The main part of it is outside our range!"

Sasuke leapt over a table to grab Hilgride, "Where do you keep your ingredients?" He demanded.

"Behind the double doors at the back." She grunted before using her bow like a melee weapon and diverting the creature from hitting another villager. He ran for it, over the barricaded tables and got to the doors just to duck Kakashi's flaming whip.

"Sensei!" He yelled before spin kicking the lock. It held. Again. It held. Again! Finally it splintered and he used a kunai to pry it open and hurl the metal to one of the kids to use as protection. He ran inside feeling the cooler air. Damn it was dark in here! The torches would set off the flour! He haphazardly pulled open a random sack. Grains. Sugar. Salt. Where was it!? Finally he felt fine grainy texture beneath his fingers. Flour! He heaved the sack towards the doors and stopped. Could the flour set off an explosion with the torches? He'd have to be careful in where he threw it.

Sakura meanwhile had the same idea as Sasuke and was hurling her pots of ink at the cracks in the air. It splattered and dripped down the air and collected in the cracks. At last they had an outline to fight. Even though it wouldn't last long! Naruto grabbed a fallen hoe and swung it with all his strength. It crashed into a panel of air sneaking up on Sakura and it splintered. Parts rained down on him and he gazed at it in confusion. He held up a bloody piece.

"It's glass!" He hollered, "It's glass!"

_Kurama! A being made of glass?!_

**They aren't all dead yet? Huh.**

_What are they? How do we fight one? You heard of them?_

**Well duh. They're sand spirits…you didn't think Shukaku was the only one did you?**

_You call this sand! _Naruto screamed mentally, _There are more sand spirits!?_

Kurama yawned in his head, **Well yeah…the idiots who seal Shukaku are really kind of …idiots. Sometimes they let part of him escape and lacking his mind they splinter off into sand spirits. It's hilarious watching the old tanuki trying to chase them down.**

_That's all well and good Kurama but this is glass…And it doesn't feel like his chakra…_

**What the hell do you think sand and fire makes?**

With that Naruto came back to his own mind to duck another claw. It carved chunks from the pole and what they had thought to be artistic decoration turned out to be sand spirit mauling.

Kakashi heard Naruto yell and acted quickly. Glass was sand, sand was earth…and lightning was strong against earth. He made some handseals he copied off some Kumo nin.

_Lightning release: God's sphere!_

Crackling lines of brilliant cold lightning flashed in the amber torch light above them. A dome of white crackling energy surrounded them and the light illuminated everything in a strange unearthly light. Kakashi sighed and clutched a table. That was a draining technique but it did its job. The claw covered in ink, flour and cracks tried to breach the barrier but parts of it kept being sliced off and careening down on the villagers before shattering everywhere. Sand blurred above and stung their eyes but the barrier held and with a final resentful screech the claw withdrew and there was a sense of the darkness shifting outside as the beast moved away.

Kakashi waited a moment for affirmation to come from outside before dropping the technique. He breathed heavily through his mask, not as draining as his sharingan so it was manageable. He turned to see the wreckage. The children cowered behind an upturned table with Perenelle standing defensively in front with a club. The armed villagers all had numerous cuts, scrapes and blood was everywhere…but nothing to serious he didn't think. Sasuke was caked in flour as was the area around him; Sakura was splotted with ink and Naruto was covered in glass shards. Okay he could work with this.

Confronting and driving off an unknown beast whose abilities were mysterious. This was quite possibly a high B rank or low A rank.

"Mission report." He said hoarsely, "Sasuke see to the injuries."

"I don't have that many bandages…"

"It's alright lad, take care of your own. We'll be fine until morning." Perenelle commented wincing. "You lot are the main defence." Sasuke nodded and moved to clean Naruto of the glass. However a random village man came up to them, "Thank you." He said warmly, "You stopped another child from being taken." He shook all their hands quickly and sent them all grateful looks. A crowd of grateful villagers formed around them, all of them reaching out to touch the shinobi crying about how their children had been saved for another night. Hilgride shot them a look full of relief and all the lines melted away as she held a young boy close and rocked him. Similar acts played out across the hall and Naruto felt an unusual lump in his throat as he watched the emotional sight. He smiled wistfully, happy to be witness to some happiness in the village especially as everyone had been so grimly weary when they had come.

"Sakura report." Kakashi repeated finally, having got rid of the crowd. Sakura started from watching the villagers and began to talk.

"It seems to be about the size you described to be able to send an arm in outside our range." She said thoughtfully, "While it appears to be cracking the air, that is just glass cracking as it bends and rubs against each other. Furthermore it has some unknown abilities with sand. Lightning worked well against it so we need you in top condition." Kakashi chuckled wryly.

Naruto spoke shyly, "It's a sand spirit." Everyone stared at him.

"Dobe even you can tell the difference between sand and glass." Sasuke spoke cuttingly.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I know that." He snapped, "I think it's rubbing the sand against each other to generate enough friction to make glass."

Kakashi paused, "That's an interesting theory Naruto but the only sand spirit is the Ichibi and what's a sand spirit doing all the way in a forest?"

"What's the Ichibi?" Sakura asked curiously.

"One tailed tanuki." Naruto answered, "One of the tailed beasts."

"Like the Kyuubi?"

"Yeah." It rankled Naruto to call the beasts by their human given name and he apologised silently to Kurama who huffed it away. "Well there was sand there and there's no other animal it could be."

Kakashi hmmed, "We'll go scouting for it in the morning. I don't think it's coming back so it's perfect time for a bit of training."

His genin all shuffled away warily. He smiled innocently under his mask. It would give him time to think while they nearly broke their necks.

"What kind of training?" Sasuke asked warily.

He waved a hand, "Nothing too strenuous. All of you have just been in combat. We're going to climb walls! Well you are."

"I'm guessing this is different from the academy's version then." Sakura sighed.

"Sensei…won't we damage the wood?" Naruto asked quizzically. He remembered his first attempts and winced. He didn't think the trees would ever recover.

Kakashi rubbed his chin, "Very good point. We can't be rude to our hosts…new plan…is that a tub of dirty water from the dishes?" He asked over his shoulder pointing to a large tub.

"Yeah." Hilgride answered bemused. "Want the tub drained?"

"Oh no, it's perfect the way it is." He turned to his students, Naruto had a look of horror and resignment on his face; oh so he had heard of water walking too? "Since you're all clever little genin I decided to bump the difficulty up a bit." He thought he heard a tiny groan but ploughed straight on, "You're all going to defy physics and walk on water. Won't that be fun?"

"How do we walk on water?" Sasuke asked blankly.

"Chakra of course."

"No offence Kaka-sensei but you're an awful teacher." Naruto said lightly.

Kakashi rolled his eye, "If you want a more detailed explanation just ask. You expel chakra from the bottom of your foot to match your weight on the water…that's it…"

"That was detailed?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"It was all I needed." Kakashi shrugged, "Well go on, you won't learn standing around gaping. Shoo-shoo." The strange man waved them towards the tub of filthy water.

Kakashi watched them clambering over the side gingerly and placing a foot on the surface.

SPLASH!

Well the other Jonin hadn't lied about this being entertaining.

SPLASH!

Very entertaining in fact.

SPLASH!

He could stand there all day and watch his sopping, filthy and annoyed genin try and get the hang of it.

He frowned under his mask. He liked his genin. They were loud and easy to annoy but gods they were so strange at times. And Naruto was the strangest of them all. He knew things he shouldn't…couldn't have known but he was still Naruto…Kakashi was sure of it. It was baffling. Naruto had heard of both water and tree walking; had known how to set off explosions without Kakashi instructing him properly. To test his student he hadn't given Naruto all the instructions and to his surprise the missing steps had been done instinctually. And he kept looking at his team mates with such a strange expression; a mix of wistfulness, anger, relief and happiness. It was similar to a comrade back in his ANBU days who had thought he'd lost his entire platoon but had seen them alive after them being missing for a week. Kakashi had even caught Naruto looking at him like that! He was at an impasse. He couldn't find out more without asking Naruto…damn…Speaking of which…where had he got the idea for a sand spirit anyway? It certainly wasn't the first conclusion someone would draw.

On the other hand he did not think his plan to curb Sasuke's obsession with revenge was working. Sure he had lightly commented to Sasuke the use of medical techniques against stronger opponents and yes Sasuke had taken to studying the books with a passion…but that seemed only to make his desire for vengeance greater! If Sasuke was like the typical Uchiha then telling him not to do something would be counterproductive. On the extreme way to solve things was to get him addicted on drugs which could be made only in Konoha…but he wasn't that desperate yet he decided. Sasuke shivered which had nothing to do with the cold water.

Sakura he was pleased to note was getting better quicker than he expected. Yes her physical conditioning was still terrible but her outlook had improved. He had no idea what Anko had said to her and frankly he didn't ever want to find out going by the calculating looks she shot Sasuke behind his back. And her sealing was improving, granted she was just following memorised formulae but he liked to look on the bright side every once in a while.

SPLASH!

Kakashi thought about his genin and their strange quirks for several hours.

…..

Time passed too slowly for the bedraggled genin. None of them had made any progress whatsoever, Naruto instead had invented the water jet propeller which he used to bounce around before Kakashi threw an exploding kunai at him.

"Concentrate Naruto." Kakashi had chided. He looked out of the window where utter blackness could be seen. They had earned a break he decided.

"Right all of you stop! Take a six hour nap and we'll go searching for the beast." He surveyed his students critically, "You might want to change out of those wet clothes first…really you guys…you should be more careful."

Naruto opened and closed his mouth trying to voice his indignation but he was too tired to argue. Sasuke shambled off to find a private spot to change and curl up while Sakura just pitched forward already out. He caught her from hitting the floor and lowered her gently to the floor. He needed to rest too but he didn't think his genin could hold watches at the minute. Luckily Jonin didn't sleep…more like dozed with hyper awareness of their surroundings. He'd be fine. He leant against a pillar and fell into a light doze instantly. Ah the perks of sleeping vertical.

…

Naruto dreamed in that six hours. He had been expecting it to be honest, he had just been through a war; and while he could act happy he was still hurting inside from being dumped in a world he had outgrown. He tossed and turned rolling up into a ball as flash backs of the war zipped through his mind with his imagination making it worse than it was.

…

_Hey, cut it out. Can't you stop it Kyuubi?_

**I can.**

_Then help him for Kami's sake. I don't like them any more than you._

**I live for war brat. There is no greater thrill than facing your foes on the battle field knowing only one of you will walk away.**

_That sounds really sad._

**Hmmf it's my nature. Can you change your nature easily brat?**

_Apparently not…I see your point. But still help him please._

**Your heart crying out again? You bleeding soft hearted fool.**

_Don't you get it? I love him like a brother. All the pain he feels I feel._

**Kuku, kuku you little liar. Very well I'll help him.**

_Are you getting soft in your old age huh, Kyuubi?_

….

Naruto stilled. The cold sweat chilled him in the night breeze. He was awake in an instant, snapping to attention.

_What was that? I swear that was senjutsu…_

"Go back to sleep Naruto." Kakashi's voice drawled, "You have two hours left to get your rest."

He turned his head, his silver haired sensei was leaning against a pillar, his hair gleaming bright in the dark.

"Sensei…what was that?" He asked.

"Hmm so you did feel that." It was phrased like a statement. The darkness shifted as Kakashi uncurled himself. Naruto pushed himself to his feet and padded over to his sensei.

"Look out of the window." Came the quiet reply. "There's a disturbance in the forest, there's no doubt it's our mysterious assailant."

"Senjutsu?" Naruto whispered to himself. Kakashi raised an eyebrow overhearing his blond student's comment.

"While I would love to know how you even heard about senjutsu, you are correct. It's a mix of biju energy and senjutsu."

"Biju!? But the Ichibi is in Suna, there's no way it can be here."

"Exactly. I didn't mention it before but it's unmistakable. It doesn't have the raw impact of the biju true but the underlying taint is the same. You wouldn't be able to pick it up, your senses are too dull."

"What does the Ichibi stand for?" Naruto whispered suddenly feeling very cold.

Kakashi looked down at him. "Hatred. Mind explaining how you know about senjutsu?"

Naruto felt his sweat drip down his back. "Umm I read about it."

"If you are going to lie, do it well." Kakashi chided. "Naruto you cannot read about senjutsu and then immediately identify it in a combat situation."

"Well…"Naruto tried to think of an excuse but before he could think very much, a vice like grip wrapped around his shoulder and they were flying. They slammed to a stop outside in a cloud of smoke and Kakashi released him.

"Sensei?" Naruto staggered back before falling into a defensive position.

"Good you learned something after all." Kakashi's soft voice drifted to him in the moonlit street. "Walk with me Naruto."

"Prove to me you are Kakashi sensei." Naruto demanded, if Kakashi had been replaced…they were all in danger!

"Well that is a good line of thinking in theory." Kakashi spoke slowly, "But you really have no way of confirming anything I say. If I was an enemy agent I could have tortured information out of me. Better to ask a question you know the answer to. So try again."

Naruto nodded, "Hai." Then he was stumped. At this point in time, he knew almost nothing about his sensei that he could say without raising alarms. "Show me your Sharingan."

Kakashi pushed up his headband to show the blood red eye. "Satisfied? Lift up your shirt and channel some chakra." Naruto did so and his sensei hummed. "Walk with me."

"What did you want to talk about Sensei?" Naruto jogged to catch up to Kakashi. The man looked utterly serious under the moonlight, there was no lazy twist to his mask or any boredom in his eye now.

"Secrecy is a vital of the shinobi." He started, "It is the very trademark of being a ninja. So can you tell me why some of the most successful shinobi are widely known and feared across the continents? Why we use flashy jutsus to fight? Why we openly advertise ourselves as a ninja village?"

Naruto frowned, "Isn't the last one something to do with money and more requests?"

"That does play a part." Kakashi agreed, "But if we really wanted to we could set up an outpost to collect requests and send them to the hidden main village."

Naruto was stumped. "I don't know sensei."

"It's due to the very nature of secrecy. Imagine we worked in secret; assassinating, protecting, stealing…how long before there are mass riots and panicking about us? Secrets have a way of making people powerful but that power is only strong if others are more scared of you than they are of the secrets. The moment they fear the secret more than you, they hunt you down to destroy it." Kakashi murmured.

"So if secrets are gone, what do we do? Don't get me wrong…there are still lots of secrets in a ninja life but nothing like what there should be."

"You put on a show of power?" Naruto guessed.

Kakashi nodded, "It's a strange way to keep your secrets. You reveal some to conceal others. You show the enemy you can fry them at close range then cut their throat at long range with a wind jutsu." He shrugged. "They never know what hit them. So Naruto I am telling you this because..?"

Naruto stared back. "You think my secret is scary?"

Kakashi stared back evenly. "You know things you shouldn't. Know this, the only reason I don't think you're an incompetent enemy nin is because of the seal on your stomach."

"I am not an enemy nin!" Naruto cried out angrily.

"You aren't making it easy to disprove your claim." Kakashi hissed. "How did you know I was to be your sensei? You knew my test. Your personality has changed. You look at us like we died and you don't expect to see us alive."

Naruto flinched back. He couldn't help it. Team 7 dying…? He didn't want to contemplate it! Part of him would break inside, he had another chance…to see them all die would be…

Kakashi went very still. He had hit the mark.

"Keeping secrets are more likely to get us killed than anything else." He probed, "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I can help…even though I don't look it, I do have a lot of experience."

Naruto was silent.

"Is the Kyuubi showing you images of us dead?" Kakashi asked gently, "Is that why you won't tell us?"

The urge to tell him was welling up in Naruto's chest. The idea of sharing his burden, to relieve him of some tension filled him with relief and a strange emotion he couldn't quite place. Kakashi could help him he thought desperately. He licked his lips.

"His name…sensei…is Kurama."

Kakashi frowned momentarily caught off balance, "What?"

"The Kyuubi…his name is Kurama. Calling him Kyuubi is like calling you human all the time." He blurted. "And he has nothing to do with it. Umm."

"…" Kakashi blinked.

"I'm thinking of the best way to tell you." Naruto confessed. Kakashi sat down on a boulder and linked his fingers together. "Okay then." He spread his hands. "Hit me."

"What do you think of time travel?" Naruto asked finally bluntly.

"It's useful."

"…what? You believe time travel is possible?"

"My sensei was the fourth Hokage." Kakashi said amused, "He time travelled on a daily basis."

Naruto's head shot up, "What! Hiraishin time travels?"

"Well it is a space TIME jutsu."

Naruto grinned, "Sensei let me introduce myself again. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuuriki of Kurama and combatant of the Fourth Ninja World War. I like protecting my precious people and dislike a few certain enemy nin. But I still like ramen." Naruto added. "My dream hasn't changed." He bowed deeply to a frozen Kakashi.

"Fourth Ninja World war?" Kakashi said calmly if a little high pitched.

Naruto dropped his smile, "It's a long story."

"Wait. Prove to me you are from the future."

"Erm you have Obito's eye, Rin was a Jinchuuriki, Yondaime was my dad…err Itachi was under orders."

"That's enough." Kakashi held up a hand, "The village doesn't need more secrets spil-wait what? What was the last one?!"

Naruto flashed him a guilty look, "Oh you didn't know."

Kakashi shook his head. Naruto was a time traveller. It was an outlandish claim…yet it made so much sense! Everything he knew, everything he shouldn't have known, and the mockery of the stances…His mind was filled with incredulity and the satisfaction of a puzzle solved. He looked over Naruto critically.

"So I should be holding you to a much higher standard?"

Naruto paled.

"Can you tell me basic outlines of what happens?" Kakashi queried. "Including the Itachi one?"

Naruto yawned, "Can I tell you after the mission? We're going to need quite some time. Oh by the way, it's a section of the Ichibi which got cut off. K chan told me so."

**BRAT!**

"I see." Kakashi allowed, "I'll need to refine our strategy. Go back to sleep Naruto, we'll talk later."

Naruto nodded, "Was it because you were suspicious that you thrashed me in your test?"

Kakashi looked a little sheepish, "Yes…just checking you weren't the enemy. I'm not usually like that."

"Jonin paranoia." Naruto said half sourly and half fondly. Kakashi chuckled.

…..

Kakashi waited until Naruto's chakra evened out in sleep before punching a tree and leaving a deep impression behind.

Time travel!

Hiraishin allowed the user to time travel by linking together points on the space time matrix with use of specific seals. Never like this! What Naruto said should have been impossible. But what he said made so much sense! He didn't think it was a lie…it was too outlandish and Naruto had known about things he had no way of knowing about. Just to check if Naruto was influenced by the Kyuubi or not he had checked with his Sharingan but diagnosis was difficult without a Byakugan. The Sharingan could only see so much.

He felt small, insignificant in the dark. Time travel made mistakes redundant. Oh I made a mistake let's go back in time and do it again. He clenched his fist. No. Mistakes needed to stay mistakes; or the person would never learn anything. Question was did Naruto remember what he learnt? He seemed too immature for a war veteran at times.

Then another chilling thought hit him. If Naruto had come back…who else had?

…

Leaves crunched underfoot as the village head paced outside the hall. Kakashi slunk out of the shadows behind her.

"I refuse to believe the monster came out of nowhere." He said quietly. "I will not believe that you only found out about it when it started killing children."

Perenelle glared at him. "Believe what you like Master Shinobi. You really think I would lie about not finding or noticing a beast like that? That's absurd, no one could miss it. It suddenly appeared one night and wouldn't leave us alone."

"Perenelle and Hilgride aren't Elemental Country names." Kakashi lounged against the wall. "Where are you from?"

Perenelle stared at him. "If you must know I have roots in the Eastern Nomads. Hilgride comes from the Northern border folk." They were both secretive folk, not many shinobi even realised they existed.

"Liar."

Perenelle arched an eyebrow, "How did you know?"

"I didn't. I just know you are hiding something, sooner or later I would strike lucky."

"Hmmf."

"Mistress Villager the information you're not telling us could be vital. If any of my team dies during this and you withheld crucial information Konoha will rip apart this cess pit." Kakashi warned.

She snarled, "You shinobi are all the same. So willing to let innocent lives be killed."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. She huffed.

"Fine…Around 12 years ago we had a visitor. A wandering monk from Suna, he came with prayers and blessings and asked for permission to stay. I granted it." She shrugged, "He seemed good natured enough." Her face darkened. "He didn't sleep. That was our first clue something was wrong. A few weeks after he moved in, his friends found him. Tracked him to our doorstep. Truth is no town near Tanzaki Gai should be this bad off. We were a nice town. Pretty. Quiet. Until they came."

"Who?"

"Suna nin." She spat the word. "They burned down the village, and dragged out that monk. Know what they told him? _It seems you have not learned your lesson, we'll just need to drive the lesson in deeper this time won't we? _My village became a lesson!" Her voice rose to a shriek.

"Then what?" Kakashi inquired.

"The monk was no monk…he had the devil inside him." She made the evil warding sign, "Blood lust and hate…that's all anyone remembers from what followed. Overwhelming fear and when we woke up our village was a pit in the ground." The bitter hate laced in her tone surprised Kakashi. She really hid her emotions well.

She sighed, "The monk was dead. The demon had left him a dried out husk but when we asked where it had gone the nin just laughed and kicked the body."

"They sealed it back into the body." Kakashi said with dawning enlightment, "But sealing with corpses is a temporary difficult measure…that's when part of it escaped…"

She nodded, "It was just sand back then, it fled into the forest and we didn't see even a grain of sand for the next twelve years."

"Did you have problems with forest fires by any chance?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

He waved it off. "Then what?"

"The nin demanded to use our remaining hawks. They were talking about telling someone to induce a birth…They left quite quickly after that, and they took the body with them. There you go Master Shinobi…that's the full story. Did that help?"

"Quite a bit actually." Kakashi murmured. "I wouldn't advise on holding information back in the future though."

She rolled her eyes and stomped away. Kakashi was lost in thought. This meant that the Kyuubi had been telling the truth…now how much truth did it mix in with its lies? He really needed to talk with Naruto after the mission.

…..

Three sleepy genin met up with an amused (inwardly worried) Jonin; especially when they poked him to check if they were hallucinating or still dreaming.

"Now that you're all up, we can go hunting for the…"

"Sand spirit." Piped up Naruto yawning.

"Since we have no better ideas…ok lets call it a sand spirit." Kakashi continued laying out the plan. Half listening Naruto turned to talk to Kurama.

_Does this mean there are parts of you wandering around?_

**No…your grandmother and father were too good of a seal master to make that mistake. **The compliment was grudgingly given. **Heard of the Kraken off the coast of Mist? That's a segment of Gyuki…**

Naruto stopped faced with an awful thought. _Wait…is Tora a segment of Matatabi?! That would make a lot of sense!_

There was a curious feeling in his gut…like Kurama had shrugged. **Set the cat on fire and find out…Matatabi cannot be harmed by fire and is attracted to greed. **There was a malicious humour in the fox's voice now.

_I'd rather not get reprimanded for animal cruelty thank you. _Naruto commented dryly.

_Do it!_

Naruto shook his head. Apparently he still had issues with that cat. He started to tap out a Konoha code to Kakashi.

*Are you really going to make a team of genin hunt down a segment of a biju?*

Kakashi whipped out his book and led Team 7 into the forest. His finger tapped twice on the cover.

*Of course not.*

Naruto pretended to brush his hair out of his face and tapped quickly.

*Then why are we here? Why aren't we declaring this too high a level for us?*

Kakashi drummed on his book.

*Rule of thumb Naruto, bijus are too high a level for nearly anyone. We can't help.*

Naruto was stunned. Okay bijus were a little difficult to handle but that didn't mean they left the village defenceless! All the children would die at that rate, the village wouldn't be able to sustain themselves. All those grateful faces…what would they turn into when they realised they had been abandoned? He couldn't stand for this. It went against his way of the ninja!

"Sensei! We can't!" He cried out.

His team stopped, looking oddly at him as it seemed like he had just cried out in response to silence. Kakashi sighed. Of course Naruto wouldn't pick up practicality in a ninja war. What had he been thinking?

"I'll explain later Naruto." He said shortly, "We have to keep moving."

"We need the light." Sakura shrugged at Naruto, "We don't want to face that thing in the dark again."

"He's not planning to face it again." Naruto roared, "He's planning on leaving the village behind! And trick us by taking a winding road through the forest until Konoha!" Sakura and Sasuke stared at Kakashi in disbelief until the latter sighed and confirmed Naruto was correct.

Sasuke whipped to look at Naruto then back at Kakashi scrutinising him. "We can handle it." He said waspishly. "Let's continue with the mission."

Sakura gasped, "The villagers! All the children will die! We have to help sensei!"

Kakashi snapped his book shut. "No." It was the tone of steel which surprised everyone.

"How can you?!" Naruto nearly screamed. "You're just going to leave them to die?" He pulled at his hair. "They trusted us to protect them."

"There is no protection against that." Kakashi snapped. "Against a biju there is no defence they cannot corrupt nor any attack which will affect them greatly. The only way to deal with them is to seal them and we do not have any seal masters amongst us and I mean _masters _Sakura. Practitioners who can carve seals with a single tap or seal the likes of a god; that is what I mean by a master. We go up against a biju and we die. We die and the village dies. This way we survive. You are more important than some backwater village from nowhere."

"That's a biju!?" Sasuke cried, "But the Ichibi is in Suna's control, and that's the only sand one."

"Apparently not." Kakashi shrugged.

"So we're running?" Sakura asked incredulously, "There has to be something we can do! We managed well last night! I heard bijus have an overpowering presence and we didn't feel that last night!"

"She's right!" Naruto agreed, he tapped out.

*If we capture the biju that's another biju for Konoha right?* Kakashi didn't even answer.

"The only reason we didn't feel it is because it has a blend of biju energy and natural energy." He snapped, "We won't be able to feel it coming, know where it is since it's almost invisible and if it stays still we won't be able to detect it at all. Make no mistake it is a biju. The Ichibi is a mass of hatred and festering resentment, shinobi better than you have been slaughtered against biju. What makes you even think I would take a team of rookie genin against one." Slowly he had been releasing his killing intent giving his words weight.

"Are all of you really arrogant enough to think you can win against a biju? My sensei, the Fourth Hokage, drew with a biju…and you three think you can win?" Incredulity and mockery laced his tone. The three of them flinched back. "That village is doomed. Either by biju or by having all their children killed. _It is classed as a natural disaster. _Do not think you can challenge a superior officer's commands in the field in a highly dangerous situation." Kakashi hissed, his eye blazing out at his cowed genin. "I am ashamed and disgusted at your conduct. Yelling at your field commander is inexcusable and we will be having words as soon as we get back. _Is that clear genin."_

"Hai sensei." All of them whispered thoroughly cowed. Kakashi hadn't released his killing intent for a while against them and they had slightly forgotten the fact he was a very dangerous man.

"Good." Kakashi's eye wandered over his group.

There was the distant sound of thunder. All of them froze. It was a clear day.

"Sensei, which direction are we heading?" Sakura asked very, very calmly.

"Away from the place where we thought the lair was." Kakashi replied.

"It's up front." Sasuke whispered as thunder pealed in the distance again. "After the village again?"

"I think it's more us." Naruto spoke calmly. Being hunted by biju…this was his area of expertise. Being hunted by wild biju…not so much. He ignored the sweat sliding down his back at the thought of fighting an untamed, unrestricted biju. He didn't have the toad summoning contract either! "We need to get out of here!"

"Agreed." Kakashi whispered before shoving them forward roughly. "Away from the village. Go right, there's hillier outcrop. We can hide and evade easier." All of them ran for their lives.

In the trees they had a massive disadvantage. The biju could strike from any direction and they didn't know the full range! They had just fought an arm which couldn't see last night; this was the full beast with all functions operational. Trees cracked behind them as the thunderous snapping followed them. They could feel the vibrations in the ground as heavy glass dug and cut into the earth, thankfully they hadn't felt any grit yet. A screeching snarling echoed through the forest as the biju picked up their trail and began to speed up. Kakashi swung up Sakura on his back and grabbed both his male students in both hands and shunshinned very quickly very rapidly covering a great deal of distance as the biju slammed into where they had been previously. He thought it was smaller than what the Kyuubi had been but the fact they couldn't see it made it just as dangerous when confronting it. If they had looked back they would have seen the blue sky crack and distort through numerous planes of glass.

Why was it chasing after them?

"It's hatred!" Naruto screamed during one of their shunshins. "It's narrowing down on that!"

Of course. Kakashi had a vicious well of self-hatred inside him for failing everyone he ever cared about. _Rin, Obito, father, sensei…_He shoved away all distracting thoughts and thought objectively. Sasuke too hated his brother with a burning passion for the massacre, he assumed Naruto too had a well of hate deep inside him. No one went through a war without clinging on to hate. Ironically the most useless member of their team was the one not contributing to their worsening situation.

The thunder grew deafening as a paw slammed into the earth beside them and would have sent them collapsing if Kakashi hadn't leapt, spun and kicked off it to abruptly change direction. Sakura screamed as she saw how close they were to it, Sasuke kicked her to shut up. Naruto yelled out a warning and Kakashi went into the trees neatly avoiding a sweep of the tail which felled an arc of trees in a roll of wood chips and glass.

It was chilling. They could hear it, see it but they couldn't feel it's chakra at all! It was like a huge empty space chasing them. They came out of the forest as Kakashi leapt high and landed on a outcrop elegantly. Then the genin got an idea of their teacher's speed and agility as he evaded every one of the biju's furious blows. They hadn't even seen this level of speed before! But the beast was just as fast and a thousand times more powerful, several times Kakashi just escaped being hit by inches.

Kakashi dropped his genin hurriedly during a brief interval when the biju smashed its jaw into a rock so hard it half shattered, and told them to run while he held it off.

"Are you crazy? That's suicide!" Naruto whisper yelled.

"I'm your teacher." Kakashi snarled back, "What kind of teacher would I be if I let you all be killed!?"

"It'd just hone in on us after you." Sasuke grunted, "We have hatred too. Let us help."

Sakura nodded, "I don't know how much help we'll be but we're not leaving you behind. Lower than trash remember?"

"I _cannot_ fight and protect you at the same time." Kakashi stressed.

"You don't have to." Naruto said slowly, a plan forming, "Sensei you're the only one who can distract it. Can you hold for a bit? I have a plan."

Kakashi snarled in genuine anger, "This is what I've been reduced to? Risking genin in battles? Fine! Do your plan. We don't have a choice."

**Leave a review? ^.^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Really enjoyed writing this chapter so you all get an early chapter this time. Not that there is a pattern to my updates ^.^**

The four of them leapt just as a glass claw obliterated the outcrop they had been hiding behind. They scattered unable to stay together due to the wild swings of the biju. They could see it more clearly now. It loomed or they thought it loomed…all they could see was refracted colours and cracks where the main body and limbs were. Sand rubbed against the glass producing a screeching ear piercing sound; Naruto was thinking of ways of warning his team about the sand over the dreadful noise. Then there was no time to think.

The biju drew itself up and spat glass. Chunks of razor edged glass rained down on them, it would have sliced them to ribbons if it hit! Sakura took advantage of her ferocious chakra control and kawarimid with the furthest glass chunk she could see. This left her falling through the air after the deadly barrage, she concentrated and kawarimid again with the edge most chunk to avoid the glass crashing down into the earth. She stumbled as she materialised, thanking Anko for the snake training. She knew she was the weakest member of the team but seriously speaking against a biju they were all equally helpless with maybe Kakashi able to get a few good hits in. She saw Sasuke out of the corner of her eye and squealed before throwing herself to the ground to avoid a grasping claw of sand. It grabbed at a rock and in front of her horrified eyes the rock ground to sand. Numerous tendrils of the sand split and raced for her…it would have captured and killed her if she hadn't taken the hint and ran weaving in between rocky outcrop. The sand smashed into and slithered over the rocks after her. She ran grimly on knowing once her pitiful endurance failed she'd be dead.

Sasuke ducked another swipe of a claw swearing loudly in his head. Kakashi was near him leaping over the second paw and together they were trying very hard not to get hit. More than once his sensei had to intervene and bodily throw him to a safer location. He saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eye and groaned. Sakura would be in great danger seeing she was alone. It rankled him but he could admit it…he was the best genin but if he needed help then the other two had no chance. He nearly missed the whistling sound. He couldn't however miss the huge two tonne tail whistling down upon his position and smashing into the ground utterly splitting it open in dust and earth. Thank God Kakashi was on his other side! To his horror the tail swept along the ground ripping up chunks of stone and earth after him and the biju spat glass rain ahead of both of them. The dust and sand stung at his eyes and sweat rolled down his grimy face as they were caught in the trap. They had to time this extremely carefully. Looking back at the foreboding cloud and the thunderous sweep of the tail Sasuke somersaulted. The tail passed under him mere inches from his face in a second of mind numbing terror. A stray pane of glass caught him on the cheek and it split open instantly spilling blood over the glass. Kakashi had somehow ran on top of the tail and was using it to get to Sakura and intercept her before she got caught. It was a show of trust in Sasuke and he didn't have any intentions of breaking it.

Meanwhile Naruto found himself face to face with the biju. He spied Sakura dealing with the sand and glass rain, Sasuke and Kakashi dealing with the claws and tail which left him the head and maybe one or two of the above.

**I'd run if I were you brat. **Kurama remarked idly. __**I think he can sense me.**

As if mocking Kurama the biju breathed. From its jaws dripped a boiling hot liquid. It splashed against the ground and flowed like honey. The heat was searing…he quickly regulated the air currents around him so the cooler air surrounded him at all times. The molten glass hissed and blackened the earth and rocks when they came into contact and the biju roared sending molten glass scattering over the area. Then it spat directly at him…gallons of glass hurtled at him. It reminded him of Gamabunta's attack!

He made the hand seals just in time. Legions of kage bunshin appeared and transformed into a diamond wall in front of the real Naruto. The molten glass hit the diamond and began to smoulder and burn its way through. Dozens of layers went up in smoke but Naruto kept reinforcing it and slowly the kinetic force of the glass was absorbed by the wall. If he had been hit by that he would have been toast he thought horrified. His surroundings were surrounded in cooling glass and the heat was soon going to become a problem. The heat built and built and he began to feel lightheaded with all the rippling glass surrounding him. He coughed and retched as hot air got in his lungs. Think of it as a Fire Jutsu he thought in desperation. He could channel chakra to the lungs to keep them working. The moment he ran out of chakra he was screwed. To all the seven hells. He couldn't even hear the biju now with the hissing and crackling but good thing was with the smoke it couldn't see him. Something he was very thankful for when his tail split the earth just feet next to him and the resulting shockwave caused Naruto to collapse. His lips and skin felt dry and papery and the biju kept spewing the jelly like hell! It splattered everywhere but the wall was still just standing. If this is hell then I don't want to die he thought faintly. The heat was near unbearable even with chakra coating his skin. He formed one kage bunshin separately from the others and it understood. He glanced at the weakening wall and henged into a kunai, the clone grabbed it and threw it far away from the disaster. He changed back mid-flight and skidded along the pebbles painfully. There he could see the wall collapse under the pressure and the smoke of the dying bunshin.

Kakashi dropped into a roll leaping off the tail, grabbed Sakura by the back of the neck and shunshinned to where Naruto was. He dropped her hissed for her to listen to him and his hand lit up with the same searing hissing fiery whip from earlier. He swung it into a stray glass piece and hurled it back at the biju. Where it hit made several cracks and to their horror the sand flowed over the spot and when it disappeared the crack was gone. The biju turned to face the three of them and bared its jagged teeth. Molten glass still dripped from its mouth but the rate had slowed immensely.

"It seems like it can't do that very often." Kakashi remarked taut as a steel cable. "It needs to regenerate the sand first I think…which is surprising it used that on you on the go Naruto."

Naruto smiled without humour. The number of times Kurama had got him into trouble was endless.

"We need to slow that regeneration down…I was thinking maybe redirect the river." He glanced at his sensei and female team mate.

"I can do that." Sakura spoke up. "I'll be useless here but I can redirect the river."

"Go!" Kakashi roared as a glass piece caught him by the arm and blood flew. He used the blood to hit the ground hard and a pug appeared. Its expression changed from lazy to horrified as he took in the scene.

"Pakkun!" Sakura cried, "Can you lead me to the river?" Pakkun looked to Kakashi for confirmation who gave a terse nod staunching the blood flow. Pakkun took off like a bullet. Sakura followed him more slowly but both Naruto and Kakashi relaxed minutely when they disappeared into the forest edge. They had blocked quite a lot of flying glass projectiles after the duo with kunai and the flaming whip and they were running lower than they would have liked.

"We need to meet up with Sasuke. I'll bring him, can you handle it for a while?" Kakashi asked Naruto. Naruto nodded and took off running to the left causing the biju's head to follow him like a marionette.

Meanwhile Sasuke was having an incredibly hard time. Now that Sakura had been removed the sand had turned and was attacking him with sand claws which he had to dodge as well as the idle swatting of the glass paws. His Sharingan had awakened a while ago and that was the only thing preventing him from getting skewered or killed. His body wasn't able to react fast enough to what he saw! His left arm was currently useless, a piece of glass had sliced across the muscle and blood wept down to the ground. Every time he moved a flash of white hot pain lashed down his arm. His fire jutsus were at the minute useless since it'd just give the biju even more ammunition! Glass shards peppered his legs and back. It was only the Uchiha police armour worn under his clothes that had saved him several times.

_Raikiri chain_

Blinding electric light flashed across his vision. He blinked to clear the afterimage and stared. The sand and glass had neatly been cut so neatly that it was a perfectly flat surface. Distantly he noted that some brave birds hadn't escaped the fight scene and were chirping quite loudly.

SMASH.

The two claws he had been avoiding fell on both sides of him with an almighty crash. The earth rocked slightly and he stumbled. Sand whipped past him as if to hide the gaping wounds but he was elated. They had hurt it! An enraged screeching and snarling filled the air. Everyone felt the air wave from the biju thrashing around…it stomped around and every time it changed position the outcrop shook. It roared in Sasuke's direction as if saying _how dare you!_

A hand ruffled his hair. "I apologise Sasuke, I was gone longer than I expected. You did very well though." His sensei quickly wound his arm and pulled it tight. Sasuke hissed.

"Okay listen, it can regenerate its wounds as long as there is sand around. If we hurt it then more sand is taken up to heal it but over time its sand control builds up again."

"So if we hurt it enough then we can remove the sand from the fight?" Sasuke slurred. He shook himself and spoke more clearly, "The other two?"

"Sakura's working on a plan, the moment you hear water get to a safe place understand? You do not want to touch that water. She's not here so don't worry. Naruto is distracting it for 5 min and then we go help him. Questions?"

"Yeah what was that jutsu? Can I learn it?" Kakashi chuckled.

"It'd take a little too long to teach you here now…but how much chakra do you have?" Kakashi tapped Sasuke's eye and Sasuke knew he was congratulating him on awakening the Sharingan.

"Enough for 5 more fireballs." He admitted.

"Good, when we get to Naruto combine his wind and your fire to melt some the biju into slag. Just don't aim for me."

"Hai!"

Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and shunshinned them both over to Naruto just in time to see Naruto swing a staff thing with a spiky ball chain to maximise damage to all the glass.

"What is that?!" Sasuke cried in disbelief.

Naruto didn't turn around, "A naginata combined with the end of a kusarigama. There is no way I am getting near this thing." Sand practically covered the area Naruto had reach of and Kakashi saw there were several cracks but they were too shallow to hold it back long.

"You idiot." Sasuke said scathingly, "Do you even know how to use that? Give that to me." He held out his hand. Naruto looking bemused handed it over. Sasuke took it in one hand and took off. Upon nearing the beast he leapt and swung with all his strength…the ball smashed into the glass of the tail joint and sent deep cobwebs running through the panel. He then spun through the air gaining momentum around the ball and lodged the blade of the naginata in the deepest crack. Gravity took over from there and he dropped…the impromptu lever he constructed absolutely destroyed the joint as the blade ripped through the panel and shattered it. The tail was still moving at that point and the momentum of it made it carry on moving and so the tail half ripped itself off with a screeching shearing sound. The biju screamed. It reverberated in Sasuke's head and caused him to stumble back leaking blood from his ears. Naruto caught him.

"Extremely well done." Kakashi sounded astounded. Naruto still looked in shock.

Sasuke grunted, "It won't happen again. Your lightning jutsu left it wide open."

"Just take the bloody compliment. Nice Sharingan by the way Teme." Naruto snarked before taking back his kage bunshin weapon. "My turn…let's see if this works." He detached the ball and chain and handed it to Kakashi who took it bemused. He flipped it so the blade was at the top of the staff…and swung! The blade whistled through the air but what was more impressive was the huge scythe of wind which erupted from the tip and went careening into the biju's neck. It sliced through most of the panels and physically sent the biju staggering back a few steps. Sand leaked from the deep cut and the biju's laboured breathing could be heard.

"That's the leaf cutting exercise magnified a hundred times right?" Kakashi asked idly.

"Yup! Although I can't so that too many times."

The biju whirled around in a cloud of broken glass, sand and flashing light. There was no sand anywhere other than on the biju now. It formed an almost second skin over it and now it was fully visible. Naruto knew from experience the sand would be as hard as rock. His wind wouldn't be able to cut much anymore.

All three Sharingan eyes widened.

"What's it doing?" Murmured Sasuke.

"Gathering senjutsu…" Kakashi suddenly had a dawning of horror. Naruto concentrated, "Yeah it's fully gone now." He admitted, "Before I could feel it slightly but now nope."

"Now we really need to run." Kakashi spoke, "Senjutsu techniques are a step above anything we have."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Naruto clarified, "Now its chakra can attack for it. It can swipe in one direction but its chakra can hit in another. Its attacks become faster and more powerful as if it wasn't bad enough. But it needs to stay still to gather it so we do have a chance."

"No. That's only for humans who don't filter in senjutsu already." Kakashi corrected, "All the biju has to do is balance the levels of natural energy in its body and it can start. Pass me the naginata Naruto." Naruto tossed him the staff.

"Thought you wanted to run?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow pulling out shards from his leg.

"Maa I did…then I remembered a little trick I came up with when I was your age." Kakashi pointed the naginata at the coiling biju.

The wood began to hiss and crackle. Cold white light flickered over it almost dancing. Where the light met and strengthened it was blinding, a smell of ozone permeated the area.

"Strike _Lightbringer._"

A bolt of furious white light slammed into the biju's snout. The light blinded all of them and the electricity in the air caused static all over their skin, the bolt shifted and twisted thunderously but the brilliant bolt flew true. The biju reared back with a pained roar as the lightning crackled over its skin and flew through its body to the earth. Even for a biju that had to have hurt.

Sasuke started, "The balance slipped! Just for a moment the senjutsu was out of proportion."

….

_Oooh look an awesome fight is going on!_

**I had noticed brat.**

_But it's awesome! Everyone has moves man! I wanna join in too now…_

…**That is the most idiotic thing I heard all day.**

_You're too grumpy. I think I'd be epic._

**You'd get in the way and die horribly brat.**

_Why so cynical Kyuubi? Do you even believe he can win?_

**Tch. He isn't asking the right questions.**

_Ehh?_

**Don't worry your empty head about it. Just enjoy the show.**

_If you must know my head is not empty._

**Whatever brat.**

…**..**

Pakkun sped on under the trees. Sakura came behind thinking furiously. She was alone, had little physical resources, small chakra reserves…redirecting the river would be incredibly difficult. But she wanted soo bad too be useful! She wanted to be recognised, to be strong…Uchihas liked only strong women…Anko had told her so. It was the worst feeling in the world for someone to look straight at you and completely dismiss you as unimportant. People didn't even recognise Team 7 had a kunoichi half the time. Fury, bitterness and resentment was bottled up deep inside her.

_She was a kunoichi._

_She was important._

_And why wouldn't anyone see that!?_

"We're coming up to the river." Pakkun barked from up ahead. "I really hope your plan works."

_She didn't have a plan. Oh Kami. Her team mates would die if she couldn't do this._

She swallowed, knelt by the river side; her sandals digging into the cool wet earth, feeling the moisture in the air and tried to think.

She would need an enormous force to divert the moving water and all her sealing items were in her backpack…which was still in the forest somewhere as she had dropped it when they had ran….Wait…backpack…Naruto's backpack was there too and he had _dynamite! _

Oh thank Kami, this could actually work.

"Pakkun, can you retrace the running Kakashi did from it?"

Pakkun raised the doggy equivalent of an eyebrow and pointed with one paw. Sakura turned to see an utter lack of trees and snapped stumps along the way they had run.

"Oh."

"It's not hard Pinky but I think I can manage." Pakkun commented dryly.

She picked herself up and began to run back along the way Kakashi had taken them heart thudding. She could see the destruction wreaked in the forest, it was a grim reminder exactly what they were up against. Steeling herself she picked up the pace and ran faster.

….

Naruto dove for Sasuke. He crashed into his team mate with a pained grunt and they toppled onto the ground wincing as the biju's teeth closed around where Naruto had been, easily ripping up stone and rock and swung sideways just missing them by inches.

"Kami!" Sasuke shouted in shock, "That came out of nowhere!" The biju's head snapped to face them at that and literally vanished. Sasuke blinked then both of them yelled as the biju reappeared behind them snarling; its claw cutting off their escape and wrapping around them. Strong hands wrapped themselves around their ankle and pulled. They disappeared into the darkness screaming.

"Keep quiet." Kakashi hissed in their little pocket of space.

Naruto pointed up with some difficulty and tapped on the earth. *What are we going to do?"

Kakashi tapped on his headband. *Well as soon as we find a way to counter senjutsu we're going to apply it.*

Sasuke interrupted looking extremely frustrated. They stared at him. Oh right he couldn't understand the official Konoha code.

Naruto grunted. Sasuke understood immediately.

"Hn hnn hn, hn?"

Naruto tapped. *He's asking how the Kyuubi was defeated by the Fourth." Both Naruto and Kakashi internally grimaced. It was a logical question…if it was true. Kakashi tapped while moving their little pocket of air around. *Inversion of yin yang contaminated with juin on a reverse 6 planar matrix on nineteen different levels of reality at the same time.*

Naruto was staring at him wide eyed. *Maa…Konoha is smart enough to cover their tracks.*

Naruto turned to Sasuke and using his finger began to carve out what Kakashi had said on the earthen walls.

"Hn huh hn?"

*What was that Naruto?*

*He's asking how I know Leaf silent tapping when I told them before I didn't know it.* Naruto made an apologetic face in the darkened underground and he thought he saw Sasuke roll his eyes.

*I used senjutsu in the future sensei* Naruto tapped *There's one weakness we can manipulate. If you draw too much nature energy in you turn to stone.* As he tapped he carved the weakness in front of Sasuke who nodded grimly.

Kakashi tapped. *That's a hard weakness to manipulate.*

*Well it also has to stay still to replenish its store of nature energy.*

Kakashi hummed. Then he smirked under his mask. *Ok Naruto here's the plan. Draw it for Sasuke as well. First…."

…

Sakura leapt into the clearing and nearly skidded past it as she spotted their backpacks lying forlornly on the leaves. She grabbed one and nearly ripped it open. Uchiha crest…useless. She tossed it aside. Under normal circumstances she would be in a state of delirium after touching Sasuke's clothes but now all she cared about was explosives! She paused momentarily disturbed, that sounded too much like Anko. Then she grabbed the next one and yanked it open. Great. Bombs. She loved Naruto at that minute.

"Puppy." Pakkun spoke very calmly, "I hope you know how to set them off correctly."

She stared at him, cursed viciously then took off in the direction of the village.

"Puppy! Wait up!" Pakkun raced after her.

…..

Sasuke warily poked his head out of the earth. The biju was prowling around like an irritated cat growling deep in its throat. Luckily at the minute it was facing away from them. He quickly dug himself out and scampered over to large outcrop of rock to press himself under. His heart pounded in his ears as he swallowed. He drew out his spool of wire and calmly began to thread shuriken.

Naruto and Kakashi had unluckily popped up away from Sasuke to give him room…and ended up catching the biju's attention. With a bone aching roar it pounced on where it had seen them only to go right through the regular clones. Kakashi and Naruto popped up behind the biju silently and efficiently. The beast reacted unbelievably quickly; it spun around and slashed out with its claw. Kakashi dodged it but the chakra arm caught him right across his chest sending him flying and bouncing across the landscape.

"Sensei!" Naruto yelled not taking his eyes off the biju. Kakashi didn't move. _Shit. _

Sasuke heard Kakashi land with a sickening crack and felt his heart plummet. They were all screwed.

_Kage Bunshin. _Naruto created a few clones to check up on Kakashi while running like hell from the enraged slashing biju. He moved erratically as it to confuse the chakra as well as the biju itself. The ground shook as they commenced their deadly game of tag. The random barrages of glass did not help and only his clones taking the assault for him saved him several times.

"Naruto!" The clones turned to see Sasuke beckoning them over. "I'll check up on him…I'm the medic remember. I'm adapting the plan..." He shoved the pile of threaded wire in one of the clones' hands and hissed, "Don't mess this up." The clones nodded and divided each taking off to do their own task. Sasuke rushed to Kakashi's side.

His sensei was pale under that mask and his flak jacket seemed oddly crumpled. His breath hitched, please don't let it be a collapsed rib cage! Or a broken spine! Or ruptured organs! Blood pooled sticky and warm on the seat of his grimy knees as Sasuke knelt and tried to feel a pulse. He didn't want to see his sensei die and not be able to do anything about it! He had sworn after the massacre he wouldn't be this helpless again! He cast the diagnostic jutsu and breathed out again.

He was never going to say a word about Jonin paranoia ever again. The interwoven steel plates in the flak jackets most Jonin installed unofficially had broken but absorbed most of the blow. Sensei just had a few broken ribs and a deep cut from one of the steel pieces piercing him. The blow to his head had knocked him out but that was easy to fix. His mystical healing palms came on in a few seconds and he managed to stop most of the bleeding from the wound. He couldn't close the wound or heal the ribs…but Kakashi was a Jonin…he would be able to cope. The smelling salts had broken in his pocket but he smeared his fingers and waved them under Kakashi's nose. A vice like grip almost crushed his wrist a second later as a blazing Sharingan glared up at him in fury.

Sasuke went perfectly still. _You did not make moves which could be seen as threatening to a disorientated Jonin. You could die. _Kakashi breathed out a moment later as recognition returned to his face and he released Sasuke's throbbing wrist.

"Good job medic, what's the diagnosis?"

"Stab wound at your back but missing most vital areas and a few broken ribs."

"Minor injuries then." Kakashi eye smiled and leapt to his feet. "I can't let my genin have all the fun."

…..

Sakura skidded into the village sending pebbles flying.

"Who worked with explosives!?" She screamed to a bewildered village.

"Calm down lass." A man approached her with both hands held up. She couldn't blame them for being worried. If a screaming ninja burst into her home she'd probably be nervous too. She breathed.

"Who worked with explosives in the past?" She asked more calmly. A gaggle of curious bystanders had formed chatting and whispering. A kid waved to her happily, she forced a smile for him then returned to her serious look.

"I have." A thin man was pushing his way to the front of the crowd. "Can I help?"

"What's going on here?" Perenelle marched up, "Mistress Shinobi kindly do not cause a commotion."

"I'm sorry but my team could die any minute now." Sakura explained hurriedly, "Can I borrow him?" She pointed at the man.

"Take him." Perenelle shrugged, "Our turn to save you I guess. Everybody back to normal lives!" She barked suddenly. The crowd dispersed mumbling but Sakura wasn't there to see it. She had grabbed the man and taken off like a shot. Her speed and stamina was really getting a workout on this mission. It was pure adrenaline which was keeping her going now.

…

Naruto's clones had done a good job Sasuke admitted. When he had been busy they had literally strung up the area in steel wire making it look like a giant children's game. Team 7 was small enough to slip through the gaps…the biju however was not. Naruto scrambled over to them as the biju roared at being caught in steel traps and shook itself violently ripping them up like cobwebs. Naruto was a mess. Blood dripped down from his blond hair and here were several gashes on his chest and back which needed immediate attention. Sasuke cursed and started pulling out glass shards and activating mystical palm to do whatever he could.

"Sensei you're up." Gasped Naruto.

"Yup, you got the main line?"

"Yeah…"Naruto handed a kunai to Kakashi. From the kunai trailed a thin wire gleaming in the light, from there linked every single bit of steel wire on the field. Kakashi whispered the jutsu with a little vindictive lilt and lightning sparked down the wire and spread all over the field in a crackle of ozone. Their hairs stood up on end as the biju screamed. Parts of glass dropped off as it thrashed and the piercing power of the lightning was greater than the defensive power of glass. The more it thrashed the more it got caught in the taut wire and the more it got hurt!

"I have just enough for one more major technique." Kakashi said dropping the technique at last. "I'd rather save the chakra until Sakura completes her part of the plan."

"Can you do a chakra infusion?" Naruto asked Sasuke who raised an eyebrow.

"Cross chakra types infusion is an extremely bad idea. Your wind will cancel out his lightning and mess up his chakra system. He could take mine but then I can't hold the transfer and donate at the same time."

"Boys focus more on the enraged biju than medical details." Kakashi chided. "Hurt animals are the most dangerous types."

"I don't think it likes me sensei." Naruto wheezed. "I kept having to overload my feet with chakra to bounce away when it flash attacked."

Kakashi tapped Naruto's stomach in an accidental gesture. "Plan worked, it couldn't keep up its senjutsu chakra balance with that many injuries. We have until the sand finishes healing to try and get as many hits as we can in...Get ready…"

….

Sakura, Pakkun and the man collapsed by the river edge.

"This is it Puppy, divert it straight at you and it should flow downhill to Kakashi and the other Puppies." Pakkun got out.

"You want to divert the river…" The man looked at Sakura like she was crazy, "Do you know what happens when you mess with the water system lass? People depend on the water…Tanzaki is practically built around it."

"We'll put it back." Sakura said firmly. "We just need to save my team first."

"Right because they're more important than all the people depending on that river. All the wildlife!" He scoffed.

Sakura grabbed him by the shirt, "They saved your children. They kept your village safe for a night…now they're fighting a goddamn biju so you don't have to. Where is your damn gratitude!?"

The man looked uncertain and Sakura felt like punching him.

"Fine!" She snarled, "I'll just go back and tell them my team died because some fool of a villager wasn't willing to divert some water to stop them dying. And their deaths will be on _your conscience _understand?"

He looked stricken. Sakura turned her back in disgust and tried to attach the bombs where she thought they should go. Long fingers took them away from her.

"You place them here and here for maximum effect." The man murmured, "We need to get out of the way and set them off at a distance. The explosion will collapse these rocks and divert the water downhill…basically what you wanted."

Sakura nodded. "Right, I have a way of setting them off…how far away would you recommend being?"

He pointed to a tree a suitable distance away. Pakkun and Sakura exchanged serious looks.

"Right Pakkun you probably should be going." Sakura murmured, "All the water could sweep you away."

Pakkun sniffed, "Who do you take me for? But I don't like the sound of that so I will go. Take care Puppy." He licked her on the hand and dispelled himself.

"You too." She whispered after him. "Right come on, this might take a few tries." The two of them hid behind a large tree in the branches, with her having to pull him up.

"What are you going to do?" The man asked interested. She calmly took out several shuriken and began spearing them with leaves no answering straight away.

"…You're going to throw leaves at the problem and hope it goes away? How like a Konoha nin." She could practically hear the smirk. She held up the shuriken to show him and half the leaf burst into flame. His eyes widened and she threw it straight at the fuses. Her aim might not be the best but with such a big target even an academy student could hit it. The fuses smoked then finally caught light.

"Hands in your ears." He advised her, "And run!" They ran for it covering their ears through the forest. It was silent for several seconds. She felt dread creeping up on her. Did it not work?

BOOM!

She felt the heat at her back. The energy blast knocked them both forward, he caught her by the collar and kept her from overbalancing. The light was blinding at the back, she could feel her ears bleeding from the thunderous noise! Fire bloomed hot and hungry at their back. Then the sound of rushing water. She felt most of her tension leave her frame, _it had worked! She was not useless and she had saved her team._

"Look Mistress Shinobi." The man's voice was hoarse. She turned.

A cascade of glittering water tumbled down the hill. It roared and flowed away from its intended course and straight towards her team. It was _glorious. _She smiled then began to laugh hysterically.

….

Kakashi kicked both their feet out from under them. They collapsed groaning as Kakashi leapt away to avoid a swing of the tail. There was no time to think now. All they could do was dodge what they could see. The screeching noise had just faded to a background roar now, they couldn't afford to get themselves distracted. Injuries made them slower and less responsive so Kakashi had to intervene several times to stop themselves from being killed. The genin were reaching their limit and the Jonin was terrified for them. His team was facing a biju. _His team was facing a biju._ _How had everyone not died yet?_

Now it was a matter of time before they all died. They were almost out of energy, chakra and will. He willed Sakura to hurry up and finish her part of the plan. He didn't want to see his students die. Suddenly his ears picked up the sound of rushing water. Suddenly his ears picked up the sound of rushing water. Yes! She did it!

"Get to high land now!" He roared boosting his voice with fuuton. His students got the clue immediately; scrambling away from the biju and up chipped out rock. Kakashi himself waited until he could see the wave of river water surging towards them before jumping and landing on a ledge nearby. The biju tried to attack Naruto so just swung one of his kage bunshin maces at it…lucky hit. It yowled back then the water hit! It nearly swept the biju forward a few paces as it was soaked in seconds flat. It sniffed in confusion then understanding as the water logged down its sand and made it difficult for it to move due to the water resistance. It growled at Kakashi before slowly trying to make its way over to bite his head off. Kakashi triple checked to make sure Naruto and Sasuke weren't wet, double checked to see whether he was wet then…

_Raikiri._

The full force of his Raikiri was plunged into the water. The electricity surged into the water and he gave it all he had. This was an invisible technique but he saw the effects. The Biju stiffened as electricity passed through every part of its body. Every single glass pane locked up rigid as enamel as it felt all the millions of volts running through its chakra system and this time…the electricity penetrated deep enough. It cancelled and influenced the electricity of its own nervous system and in agony the biju toppled over and shattered into millions of glass shards its own nerves fried.

Kakashi stopped the technique then almost collapsed. He was so tired after that. He just wanted to curl up and sleep for a week. From the looks of things so did his genin. Hell they just fought a biju and won. He went very still. _They just fought a biju and won. A rookie genin team. _Oh fuck his team would have all their throats slit in their beds.

Naruto and Sasuke half fell from their perch suddenly exhausted. Their adrenaline was wearing off and the wear and tear of the fight was settling in.

"What do we do now sensei?" Sasuke slurred supporting Naruto as they splashed through the water.

"We wait for Sakura." Kakashi replied tiredly. "What's wrong with Naruto?"

"Something hit him in the head. I think he's a little disorientated."

Naruto blinked unfocusedly at him, "Why have you got your eye on that? That's no good."

Sasuke and Kakashi blinked. Right Naruto was probably mixing this up with the future, better do him a favour now. Sasuke squawked as Kakashi's chop to the neck put the full of Naruto's weight on his injured shoulder.

"Sorry Sasuke."

"Sensei we need medical attention and rest, we can't get the attention other than in Konoha… we can't travel to Konoha like this. What the hell is the plan?"

Kakashi rubbed his chin, "That's not strictly true…"

…

**Indulge me by reviewing? **


	7. Chapter 7

**A bit less actiony this time. From now I plan on starting on the big arcs and changes. Joy! Hope you like the chapter. ****. Disclaimer: While I would love to say I own Naruto, the sad truth is I don't want to be prosecuted. So no Naruto is not mine. Dammit.**

_Would you look at that? He won! Like I told you._

**Hmmf I admit it is a surprise. I had expected the imitation to kill them all.**

_*snort* Have some faith in him. Like your future-self did._

**Hah faith is earned not given away.**

_Has he not earned your faith yet then?_

**Actions speak louder than words brat…what has he done to protect us biju since coming here. He just killed a biju for Kami's sake.**

_But you didn't try to take him over when he was his weakest. That implies a measure of faith at least._

**That's not faith…that's insurance for the future. If he really does come back then he's the only one who says he's willing to protect us. If he's driven insane he can't do that.**

_But you won't help him._

**No… But I won't hinder him.**

_Hey Kyuubi…how do you think he'll react?_

…**Terribly. **

…**..**

"You said you'd fix it." The man glared at her after she finished laughing. "Now."

"I'll need to go back and get some water specialists to come do it." She breathed suddenly very tired.

"You said YOU could do it!" He shrieked. "A city's life blood is its water!"

"I lied." She smiled apologetically, "Sorry."

"Sorry!" He pulled at his hair in a rage, "I trusted you that you could fix it! Or do you not care about the hundreds of people who depend on that water? Your team is not more important than them all!"

"And who are you to make such a decision?" Sakura hissed, "My first loyalty is to my team. Above a little gambling town. And I am telling you I'll try to get it fixed. It'll just need time."

The man stared at her in horror. "Ninja." The word had connotations of murder, betrayal and arrogance.

Sakura breathed and spoke. "Yes I am a ninja. A kunoichi of Kohona. And what of it?" She felt peace saying those words. This was what she was. A fierce pride burned in her chest…she would be useful to the village.

The man turned away unable to talk anymore. She took off following the water in search of her team. Neither had anything to say to each other. Idly Sakura mused that she did not even know that man's name.

…..

Ice cold. Frost coated metal ran all around the room. Naruto's breath came in short sharp puffs blooming white in the freezing cold. He gasped as he rubbed his arms to warm himself up.

"Hah, hah what is this place?" He slugged through icy water peppered with random pieces of floating ice losing all feeling in his legs.

"Hello?"

_Hello. _A young voice echoed in the vast open space. _Who is this?_

Naruto ran forward a few steps, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Can you help me? I'm lost."

Silence. _I see Uzumaki san. You see I don't get people down here…so don't mind me if I am surprised._

"Hah where am I? Who are you?" Naruto asked scrunching his face in the cold, "Why is it so cold?"

_I don't understand where this is either. I just found myself here…just like you. Who am I? _Naruto thought he detected a hint of amusement in that young voice. _Let's play a game. If you can guess my name…I'll tell you everything I know. If you lose then I eat you. Deal?_

"Eat me?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Are you a cannibal?"

_You do what you must to survive. My brother taught me that Uzumaki san._

"And where is your brother now?" Naruto called out warily. He didn't fancy an ambush at his back.

The voice sighed. _Win the game and I'll tell you._

"What if I refuse to play and demand answers?" Naruto asked.

The voice gained an unsettling dangerous lilt. _Then you die where you stand… Uzumaki san. I expect I can survive for a while off your frozen corpse._

"Ok I'll play!" Naruto shouted, "What are the rules?" There was a scuttling sound overhead and chips of ice broke off to bounce down. The sound reverberated around the vast area finally impressing Naruto on how big it was.

_You have three days. _The voice whispered so quietly Naruto had to strain himself to hear. _You can ask anyone, do anything. You can ask as many times as you want. However tell anyone and you automatically lose._

"Do I not get any hints?" Naruto yelled into the silence. He had no choice but to play, there was no other way to get the information. "I can't be gone from my life for three days!"

_I understand. I have my own ways of sending you back and forth. _A trace of smugness entered the voice.

"Then why don't you escape yourself?"

…_Who says I want to escape?_

Naruto thought very hard. Alternate dimension? Different level of reality? Subconscious? Dream? Last thing he remembered was a stinging pain at the back of his neck. Damn you Kakashi sensei.

_Lanterns in the dark._

"What?"

_Your hint. I'll send you back now…good luck Uzumaki san._

"Hey wait!" Naruto ran forward but his vision darkened at the edges even as he blinked furiously. The ice blurred to pale blobs of white. He blinked. His teacher's white hair stood out starkly against a black scarf wound around his face.

"Ah Naruto you're awake." Kakashi's eye crinkled. Naruto sat up sharply wincing.

"Sensei was I here the entire time?"

Kakashi blinked, "Yes…why?"

"No reason…say where are we?" Naruto looked around at the dark room with blacked out blinds.

"An outpost about 30 miles away from where we fought. I sent a dog for a medical team and they patched us up so we could be moved here for some more help. You're the first one awake." He patted Naruto's head in congratulations. He added in a lower tone. "We need to talk."

"Agreed." Naruto yawned rubbing his eyes. "But first how are they?"

"Not bad." Kakashi hmmed, "They'll both be fine in a bit. We're leaving as soon as they wake up and get some food down."

Naruto nodded, "So what do you want to know sensei?"

"There was a war." Kakashi said carefully, "Can you tell me more without messing up the timeline?"

"The time line's already messed up." Naruto swung his feet off the bed, "We were meant to have the wave mission. But yeah I can tell you. There are nine biju out there yeah? This organisation wanted to collect us all and extract them so they could have super weapon to keep the peace. Atatsuki? Heard of them?"

"Hmm." Kakashi didn't give any details away.

"Well they got pretty far. They had seven of them and their leader a guy called Pain had the Rinnegan and slowly one by one we started killing them. We had some magnificent losses though." He winced, "Asuma, Jiraiya, Jiji died before that in an invasion by Orochimaru…oh watch out for that…he timed it to happen on the Chunin exam finals by the way. Half the village civilians died. Sasuke turned rogue to Orochimaru to get his own revenge…umm so it turned out a member of Atatsuki called Tobi was manipulating Pain and he declared war on all the Shinobi countries and Iron provoking the Fourth war. Pain died. Orochimaru kind of died. His disciple learnt the Edo Tensei and brought the dead back to life along with Zetsus to fight against us."

Kakashi went pale.

"Me and Bee, Gyuki's…Hachibi's Jinchuuriki, trained on an island and we came into the war at a later date. Well Tobi freaked everyone out by claiming he was Uchiha Madara…turns out he wasn't but the real Madara was on his side. He absorbed parts of Kurama and Gyuki turning him into the Juubi Jinchuuriki…following some motive decay Madara became the Jinchuuriki to activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the world, an infinite genjutsu. Well he managed to activate it. Sasuke turned good again and saved us. We met the Sage of the Six paths and apparently we're the reincarnations oh his sons, he gave us his power and we kicked Madara's ass. Turns out Zetsu was a traitor and Kaguya, yes that Princess Kaguya, was the real villain. Then I ended up back at the forest…Any questions?"

Kakashi seemed to be carved from stone. His eyes stared blankly ahead. He made a valiant effort to recover. "So that's the significance of the drawings I stole."

Naruto glared at him, "Do you know how long I spent combing my security and how confused I was finding no trace of anyone there after you left?"

Kakashi chuckled and changed the subject, "So who was the Tobi person?"

Naruto started to fidget.

"Naruto." Kakashi's voice was deathly calm.

"Uchiha Obito." Naruto mumbled.

Kakashi reared back as if he had been slapped.

"Uchiha Obito is dead." He growled. "He was crushed under a landslide."

"But you never saw him die." Naruto locked eyes with Kakashi's fierce single eye.

Kakashi felt hot anger build up inside him. Obito had been magnificent. A true ideal of the shinobi and his student dared say he was a villain! He would not believe it. Obito had died to save them. Was that the action of someone who wanted to enslave the world?

"Half his body was crushed." He said forcing himself to be even. "Not even Tsunade could have saved him!"

"But Madara with a Zetsu could. His side was entirely replaced…he was deluded sensei. After Rin died he lost faith in the world and well…"

Kakashi closed his eyes. "Describe a Zetsu to me." He ordered.

"There's two of them, a black and a white one. They're like plant people." Kakashi's eye widened in shock.

_Rin's dying gurgle bubbling out of her throat. His own heart beat quickening as if to mock her failing one. Pure utter shock. Then a scream; so full of anguish he wasn't sure if it was his own or someone else's. Then a ripping tearing grinding noise as Mist nin were bodily pulled apart, their blood dying the mist red. In the end they lived and died as the Bloody Mist. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was smooth white wood erupting from a surprised enemy's chest._

There had been white wood on that battle field in the corner of his eye. And there was only one other person who would feel Rin's loss as keenly as his own…But Obito was so cheerful and happy…he helped old women cross the street though! He wanted to become Hokage! Kakashi was in turmoil, he didn't want to believe what Naruto just said but if why would Naruto lie? He breathed out slowly.

"Can you get me proof it was Obito?"

"He had a Sharingan in his right socket."

"That's it? It could have been a transplant!"

"But only Uchiha can turn the Sharingan off at will."

Kakashi smiled sadly under his mask, "I can't accept that without seeing it with my own eyes Naruto. There is a chance you were mistaken."

Naruto nodded realising Kakashi didn't want to believe his idol and role model had done such terrible things.

"You mentioned an invasion?"

Naruto nodded, both of them agreeing not to talk about Obito for the time being, and he filled Kakashi in for the next hour or two.

….

**Kukukuku someone's hasty.**

_I got tired you old fuzz ball. It's a win-win situation for me…_

**So it all peaks in three days.**

_Hmm…say Kyuubi, when it comes down to it…which side will you fight?_

**If you hadn't noticed brat I am a bit tied up. Kuku.**

_Don't give me that nonsense. Answer properly Kyuubi._

**Why whoever has the most malice in their heart of course. Kuku-kuku. This is going to be very entertaining.**

….

Sasuke flickered his eyes open. His head ached but he didn't feel any pain in his body. What had happened after Kakashi had sent a dog? He had blacked out to Kakashi's stern warnings…He twitched his fingers until they curled into a fist. Good motor functions working. Swallowing to wet his throat he looked around the room.

A mop of pink hair stuck out under another blanket a bed away. An unmade bed was tucked in the corner by a flickering lamp. He tried to sit up with a wince feeling all his stiff muscles protest.

"Careful kid. You had some pretty bad injuries when we found you." A tall jonin slouched into the room. First thing Sasuke noticed was the senbon in the jonin's mouth, then the blond hair and the face which he automatically filed away as being a combination of standard features. _No head band._

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded instantly.

"Ahh that's not an interesting question. You don't want to know that…you want to know what I'm going to do, right? And I want to know what you were doing, fair deal no?"

"No." Sasuke answered before swinging himself out of bed and walking awkwardly on tingling feet to his destroyed armour nearby making sure to keep the strange man in his eye sight at all times. He was in no condition for a fight but if the Nin was hostile… The Jonin sighed. "What is it with kids and their level of respect today? We saved you kid, you owe us answers."

"I don't owe you anything." Sasuke bit out.

The senbon clicked between the man's teeth. "Well if you're sure kid." He shrugged easily, "I guess we'll just ask the girl when she wakes up. Perhaps she'll respond better and actually with some gratitude."

"You leave Sakura alone!" snarled Sasuke. In his head he was worried, if they questioned Sakura she wasn't trained well enough to protect all their secrets damn, damn, damn! The man smirked.

"Sakura is it now? Fond of her are we?" Sasuke cursed in his head, he just gave away information in his angers. Right time for him to calm down.

"Where's sensei?" The man cocked his head, leaning against the door. Blocking it supplied Sasuke's ninja part of the brain.

"You mean that old silver haired man? He just dropped dead of old age would you believe it… age really catches up to people."

"What did you do?" Sasuke forced out between gritted teeth.

"I didn't do anything." Drawled the man, "Is it my fault if his heart gave out when I found you?" There was a wicked amusement layering his words and his eye gleamed with a strange humour.

"My other team mate?" Sasuke breathed. No they couldn't have killed Kakashi! He was so strong and intelligent. But tired his mind helpfully supplied. He just fought a biju, he was drained, wounded and the jonin seems to be in full health…it's not entirely impossible….no! Disbelief rose in him at the thought of Kakashi dead.

"He woke up before you kid. Got sick of his attitude so I handed him over to someone else." He cocked his head, "Hmm I haven't heard anything from them in a while."

"Bring him back!" shrieked Sasuke snapping knowing full well what the man was hinting at. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

"Or what kid?" The man countered grinning. "I'm a Jonin you're a genin. What are you going to do?"

Sasuke felt despair creeping up on him. Kakashi was dead. Naruto was being tortured for information. Sakura was in grave danger when she woke up. And he was being offered a choice between telling the Nin what he knew and joining Naruto. He felt so damn helpless! His stomach dropped out leaving a cold void behind.

"I'll make you that offer again kid." The man idly chewed on the senbon. His voice was completely care free…like he didn't care one inch whether he tortured Sasuke or not to get the information. "Tell me what you know on the defence of Konoha and what you were doing and I'll let you have your team mate back. He might not be too broken if you hurry." He smiled and Sasuke felt like punching his teeth in. "Ja ne." The man stepped back out and shut the door. Sasuke very clearly heard the click of several locks and the cheerful whistling as the Jonin walked away.

He couldn't escape. There were no windows, only one door, the walls seemed to be reinforced and his chakra was very, very, very low. In addition he was bone dead tired, he didn't think he could protect either himself or Sakura if need be. He turned around fists clenched and his heart thudded unpleasantly. Where Sakura had been was just a pile of mussed sheets and pink strands. He rushed over and yanked the covers off the bed. _She wasn't there. _

…..

Sakura woke up in a very strange place. She could smell fire and smoking fish nearby, and quiet voices chatting. She lay still eaves dropping. Who were they? Last she remembered was helping Kakashi sensei with his wounds then nothing. Had they been attacked? But then why would she be untied and from the looks of things healed? She shifted slightly.

"Oh she's awake." A cheerful voice cut across the chatter. "Up you get, your food's going to get cold." She snapped her eyes open and gazed to where the voice was coming from.

Two girls sat around a spitting fire half smiling at her. A boy was stretching off at the side and rummaging through a bag. No head bands or ninja gear on any of them…so not genin then. But they looked familiar like a hazy echo of people she once knew distantly.

"How long have I been out?" She pushed herself up. She had been ambushed…they could have done it and pretended to be civilians. She had to be careful. Her headband had to have fallen off in the ambush...she couldn't feel the fabric on her forehead at all.

"About a few hours." The girl with straight black hair answered. "I'm Arama and this is Raki." The other girl nodded sharply at Sakura.

"I'm Shi." The boy came forward holding out some smoked fish. Sakura took it but didn't know whether to eat or not. Could she trust them or not?

"We found you collapsed on the outcrop by that tiny village." Shi explained giving her a friendly smile. "We thought it'd be best to help you so Konoha doesn't take our heads."

"They wouldn't do that." Sakura's voice was hoarse from lack of water. Raki tossed her a bottle which she drank greedily from. Taking a risk was part of her job after all. She didn't ask about the rest of team 7. Who knew what they could do with that.

Arama snorted, "They would. They are a ninja village after all." Shi sent her a look and she shut up. Detecting a faint trace of hostility in her voice Sakura thought it'd be best to leave that topic of conversation alone.

"So who're you?" Shi flopped bonelessly in front of the fire, "I don't want to call you Miss Ninja for the entire time." He grinned with an easy going grace and Sakura had to fight to not smile back. He was hard to dislike with his cheery personality.

"I'm Sa-"

_Never give your name out to people you can't trust. _Anko's drunk words echoed through her head. _A name gives people the illusion of power just like sake gives people the illusion of peace._

"Saki. I'm Saki. Thank you for picking me up but I need to be going."

"It's going to be pitch dark in a few hours." Raki pointed out lazily like she thought Sakura was an idiot. "You're really going to get soo far."

"Ahh." Shi frowned, "At least have dinner with us Saki. We could use the ninja protection and you could use the dinner…swap?"

She could get information out of them. She grinned mentally then sat down next to Raki who fixed her with a lazy eye.

"So where are you heading?" She asked biting into her fish.

"Tanzaki Gai." Arama answered, "Heard it's a good place to earn money especially for young teens."

Sakura blinked. She was relatively sure that while all their clothes were a bit shabby their boots were of excellent leather even if they were a little dirty. She narrowed her eyes slightly; they were lying…no poor kid would keep such excellent boots without selling them for a lower quality…it was just a huge target.

"Fire's economy is generally quite good." She murmured, "There shouldn't be a lack of jobs? Especially for you to go to Tanzaki Gai." The perks of being a civilian clerk's daughter.

Shi chewed on his fish, "Our well dried up this year. Slowly everyone started to leave…we couldn't all stay. Jobs dried up, shops closed and we knew we had to move." He shrugged, "I for one am looking forward it. Our village had no adventure."

"Adventure's not all it's made out to be." It slipped out before Sakura could stop herself.

"Maa how hard can it be?" Shi grinned at Arama who smirked back, "Gets the blood pumping; life's so boring when you do the same things over and over. In a way I envy you Saki, as a ninja you can travel to so many places and do so many things. Raki wants to travel too but she's stuck with us I'm afraid." He laughed slightly bitterly.

Sakura looked to Raki in interest who nodded. "It's true, there's so much out there to see. The islands of Mist, the mountain ranges of Kumo…the Iron country culture." There was genuine wistfulness in her voice now, "We have a beautiful country and to see every breadth is my dream."

"Have you travelled before this?" Sakura asked curious.

"I was born in Hichamon and made the journey when I was very small. That's it I'm afraid." She laughed sheepishly, "I'm afraid I haven't made a good start to my dream."

"I went to Suna once on a business trip." Arama put in, "By Kami it is ferocious. Not a tree for hundreds of miles…weirdest thing I ever saw in my life!" Everyone laughed.

"You been anywhere Saki?" Shi asked casually. Sakura would have honestly answered if it hadn't been for the nagging suspicions that she knew them. And they had found her lying around and now was asking her indirectly about her activities whereas normal civilians would ask directly. There was a reason she had been top kunoichi after all.

Now where had the old man said he was from?

Sakura smiled, "Been to Wave once."

"What's it like?" Arama asked. "Heard it was doing pretty well." Trying to influence her decision that was an obvious ploy.

Well the man had been wearing pretty shabby clothes too so…

"Well when I was there it didn't seem to well off." She shrugged, "But heard they're building a bridge now."

Arama hmmed. "You know for that business trip I mentioned before, we hired Suna nin…and I'm pretty sure they said a four man squad is always deployed on missions…Should we be looking out for your unconscious team mates?"

Raki shushed her quickly, "Don't interfere in ninja matters Arama! She probably doesn't want to tell you."

Sakura tore at her fish, "Alright that's enough. Who are you guys?"

"What do you mean?" Shi asked confused. In response she threw a kunai hoping desperately she hadn't just made a huge mistake and they really were harmless civilians. It sped towards his face and she saw his eyes widen in shock.

Arama screamed and Raki jumped to her feet yelling. Meanwhile Shi…rolled out of the way. It was a quick fluid motion which efficiently placed him out of the kunai's trajectory and left it thudding into the ground. Sakura jumped to her feet and clenched her fists.

"Tell me who you are or I swear-" She was right _they were ninja!_

"Or you'll divert another river?" Raki remarked dryly from her standing position. "We just want to talk."

"We wouldn't have healed you if we wanted to hurt you." Arama made a placating movement.

"You're all shinobi. Which village are you from?" Sakura demanded, "What did you want to find out from me?" She got out a kunai knowing if they attacked her she couldn't do much but she had to be useful. Giving up without a fight…

_You give up without a fight and I swear Pinky I will hunt you down and whittle instruments from your bones. _Anko's voice rang coldly in her head. _No pseudo student of mine EVER gives up._

She shuddered lightly.

"Mist." Drawled Shi from his seat. "You planning on throwing that kunai at me again? I just want to eat my fish."

"Liar." Hissed Sakura as soon as he finished speaking. "I almost recognise you, you're all incredibly familiar." She was alone with three healthy enemy Nin. The situation couldn't get worse.

"Say we were to attack you three on one." Raki interrupted cocking her head sliding smoothly into a pose, "What would your course of action be?"

"And why would I tell you?!"

"She passes." Shrugged Arama, "Right let's pack up."

Sakura stuttered to a halt. "What?"

Shi dug around in his back pocket and pulled something thin out. He tossed it to her while chewing on his fish. She caught it and examined it in the firelight.

A Konoha headband reflected the muted orange of the flame back at her.

"You're Konoha ninja." She was stunned. "Then what was the point of this!?"

All three of them grinned and wiped at their faces with their water bottles. Face paint dripped off their skin and darker skin shades showed up underneath as well as more pronounced bone structures.

"The hair will go away in a while." Arama ran a hand through her hair. "Recognise us now?"

"Yamara Hoshino, Shishui Ryusaki and Kigura Miyake. From the Academy." Whispered Sakura.

"Nice to meet you again Sakura." Smiled Kigura, "We're team 5."

"Why did you do this? Where did you come from? What happened?" Sakura asked quickly.

Shishui stretched lazily, "Well we were sent on a C rank to an outpost when word came in of your team sending in an emergency call for help. Now outpost Nin apparently get bored." He shrugged, "They healed you and split you all up to play mind games with you. Don't ask me why." He added hastily seeing Sakura's glare.

"We had the choice of helping them or becoming their new toys." Snarked Kigura. "It was an obvious choice."

Sakura shook her head, "Can you take me to my team now?"

…..

"Where is she?" He snapped even before hearing the lock click. "Bring her back."

"How is that a good way of asking for a favour?" Came the incredulous reply. "Try again kid."

He gritted his teeth hating the cool man at that minute more than anything. "Bring her back…please." The last word could barely be heard.

"Well I suppose since you asked twice, I'll go and bring her back in two pieces." He turned as if to leave.

"No!" Shrieked Sasuke.

"Well make up your mind then." Chided the Jonin lightly, "Do you want her back or don't you?"

"In one piece, alive and unharmed." bit out Sasuke.

"The last one's a bit late." The man shrugged tossing an item on the floor. A bloody headband dripped on the floor and dark red _Sakura's _blood ran down his fingers. _They killed his team mate. Useless annoying Sakura who saved all their lives. _Numbness tingled at his hands. Was everyone he knew doomed to die? Cold fury raged in him suddenly…who dared kill a team mate of the Uchiha!?

_Sakura was dead. Kakashi was dead. Narut-_

The Jonin slid another head band with heart wrenchingly familiar blonde strands caught in the cloth to him.

"He lasted much longer than the girl. You should be proud." The Jonin grinned, "We told him we only found him and the girl. He never gave up your existence in spite of that."

"You killed him." Sasuke repeated going further into shock. "You killed them all." He was alone once again.

"You're the last." The description dropped like a stone in Sasuke's stomach. _Last…_once again. Why did his heart hurt so much? He hadn't known them that well…how many times had he complained about them being dead weights?...But he had never wanted them dead.

"But they are all dead in the end." The Jonin sighed, malicious amusement lacing his tone, "I suppose they really were trash after all."

Sasuke didn't remember throwing himself at the man and trying to punch the daylights out of him. The man twisted and kicked so his foot slammed into Sasuke's half guard and sent him stumbling back. His muscles hadn't fully recovered and so it took longer for Sasuke to get his hands in a block and he was sent flying back with a brutal kick to the ribs. He hit the edge of the wall and bit back a grunt. A flash of steel. A senbon quivered in the wood next to his face. His eyes widened.

"Don't cause trouble kid." The Jonin still sounded like he was choosing his groceries! It drove him up the wall! Literally. A cold crackling echoed in his ears as his ears popped.

…

Kakashi jerked in his seat. Was that? Damn! He leapt out of his chair and took the stairs two at a time. When they said they would test his genin they hadn't said anything about making them so distressed their chakra became violently manifested!

"Where is he?" He snapped at a nearby Chunin. The terrified Chunin just pointed. Kakashi strode off radiating dark intent in search of his student. After going up three more flights of stairs he detected Genma's blond hair and Sasuke's distinctive coiling chakra. He burst in.

The room was a mess. Deep burns riddled the room; most serious near the opposite side where a Sasuke surrounded by crackling white energy leant breathing heavily. Genma was waving off what seemed to be a moderately powerful strike, both of them turned around when he burst in and both sets of eyes went wide.

"Kakashi." Smiled Genma nervously. Kakashi punched him across the face with an audible crack. The other Jonin collapsed clutching his face and swearing.

"Sasuke. Look at me." He ordered scanning for damage.

"Genjutsu." Mumbled the boy stark white. "Go away. Kai."

Kakashi froze. "What did you do Shiranui?!" He roared. Behind him Genma groaned.

"Tested his mental strength." He cradled his jaw, "Created a scenario where he was the only survivor."

"You idiot!" hissed Kakashi venomously, "Did you even think about the massacre? How that would affect his mental state?"

"Of course I did." Scoffed Genma, "It was calculated to strike at his weak point. Maybe I went a little far though." He admitted.

Kakashi closed his eyes, "Just when were you planning to stop?"

"I was just going to stop when he went out of control." Genma admitted sheepishly.

"I'm real Sasuke." Kakashi stressed. "Everyone is alive. He lied."

Sasuke stared blankly at his sensei and pointed at the headbands.

"A trick kid." Genma joined Kakashi looking slightly worried. "I just stole your team mate's headbands and cut my palm." He held up a sliced palm as proof.

Sasuke looked a little calmer and his chakra began to die down, "They're alive? Show me." All of them disappeared in smoke.

…..

Naruto blinked as the two Jonin and Genin speared in front of him.

"Helloo?"

Sasuke stared at him with a peculiar sort of intensity his blood red eyes spinning. At that point Sasuke reminded Naruto of Itachi…with that scarily calm expression and burning eyes. Then he looked away scoffing.

"I see even the expert healers couldn't fix your stupid face dobe."

"They also failed to spot the giant prickly stick up your ass." Naruto threw back glad to be on familiar ground.

"Boys." Cut in an exasperated Kakashi, "Go look for your team mate." If he squeezed Sasuke's shoulder harder than normal none of them said anything.

….

The two teams sat on opposite sides of a charred table they found in one of the rooms.

"Did I ever thank you for that hint Naruto?" Shishui asked casually after a period of awkward silence. "Saved us from going into the remedial classes."

Naruto grinned at him cheerfully, "No problem, glad to help you out. So who's your sensei now?"

"Ibiki Morino." Deadpanned Yamara.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "You have the interrogation and torture captain as a sensei? Wow."

"You have the legendary Copy nin." Kigura put in coolly.

"Point."

"They let Morino leave Konoha?" Sasuke asked sardonically. "With a team of genin?"

Shishui laughed, "Ahh no. We're with Genma sensei…tall blond Jonin with senbon? Seen him?"

Sasuke stiffened minutely beside Sakura. Awkward silence fell.

Naruto flicked a glance at them and a smile flickered over his mouth. He was worried about Sakura and Sasuke, they were quieter and more introspective than usual. And in addition he had that riddle to work out.

"_Lanterns in the dark?" Kakashi mused, "Is that meant to be a metaphor for a visionary?"_

"Something worrying you?" Shishui's mouth twisted. "Can I help? I feel like I owe you a big favour.

Huffing with laughter Naruto spoke, "Just a little riddle plaguing me. Nothing serious."

"Share." Kigura's quiet voice interjected, "We have six heads to work on it and we need to pass the time."

"Lanterns in the dark." He shrugged, "That's all I know."

Sakura stared, "Is it a metaphor? Noun?"

"It's a name." Everyone stared at him.

"Did you miss the second half or something?" Sasuke asked confused.

Naruto shook his head, "It was just that."

"Well what about Hope?" Sakura asked, "A light in the dark does represent a guiding hope or belief."

Sasuke shook his head, "That's a civilian's misconception. A light in the dark represents deceit…because enemies probably caused the dark and the light to guide you to a trap."

Yamara raised an eyebrow, "So we have two contradictory opinions. I was thinking of revelation myself. You know shedding light on the unknown?"

"I agree with Sasuke." Kigura disagreed, "A light in the dark is usually a fake. Following blindly just leads to more trouble…like that fish in deep sea Iruka sensei mentioned."

"Stars?" Shishui offered, "If it's a metaphor for physical things?"

"I was thinking like glow flies or other lighting insects." Naruto sighed.

"Well, all of us agree that it has an uncertain future." Yamara said thoughtfully.

"Well if we think like knowledge related, candles? Books?" Sakura mused.

"Could it be a twist on the statement _who you are in the dark_?" Sasuke drawled. "It illuminates your deepest character when no one can see or judge you."

"Deep…who gave you this riddle anyway? Some sadist of a sensei?" Shishui mocked.

Naruto blinked, "I honestly have no clue."

…

Kakashi prowled in the landing like a big cat.

"That was masterful Hatake." Genma's voice rang up as the blond Jonin slouched over. Kakashi smirked under his mask lightning quick.

"But are you really sure you didn't trade off his loyalty to Konoha in exchange for loyalty with his team mates?" Genma warned.

"It is a risk I am willing to take. For prodigies they don't fixate around ideas…they can see the pros and cons of it straight away but if you get them to fixate around people…" Kakashi chuckled, "Nothing can move them aside."

"And you're hoping he picks up their philosophy." Genma murmured.

"Of course. We cannot lose that boy."

Genma chuckled, "He's avoiding me, it's almost cute." Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Well you did traumatise him."

"You utter hypocrite Kakashi." There was mock disappointment in his voice; then his voice lowered. "For your sake I hope he never finds out…remember Itachi furious?"

Kakashi nodded sharply acknowledging the warning.

Genma cocked his head, "And the other boy?"

Kakashi smiled grimly, "We don't need to worry about him. My team will stay together no matter what."

"What if one of them dies?" Genma joked. Kakashi pinned him with a hard look.

"_No matter what._"

….

Team 7 adjusted their packs uncomfortably. Standing in front of the head medic at the outpost would do that. His sharp gaze pierced through all of them.

"Who is the medic in this team?" The sick looking man snapped.

"Me."

The man thrust a pouch at Sasuke abruptly. "If you are going to be fool enough to pick fights as genin you will heal your team back up afterward." He bit out, "No wasting professional healer's time with fights you picked for prestige, pride or boredom. Understand rookie?"

"Yes."

"Good boy." The man nodded almost approvingly once and swept off muttering about idiots and broken bones.

"Don't anger medics." Muttered their sensei in a low voice his nose stuck in an Icha-Icha novel. "Right Team 7 our mission is complete and after a little detour we can go report in. Follow me."

Naruto sighed. This was the worst part of a mission…the walk back. He'd be happy to do several dangerous missions, as long as he didn't have to go back and file the proper paperwork afterwards!

"What did he give you?" Sakura asked curiously to Sasuke who grunted and unwrapped the pouch. A scroll and several pills fell into his palm.

"A scroll on healing bone and muscle damage and soldier pills." Both his eyebrows shot up.

"That is an expensive gift Sasuke." Kakashi called from ahead, "Take good care of it."

Naruto didn't say anything but simply noted how quiet Sasuke got while inspecting his gift. Sasuke had a combatant's will…how would he react to being pushed down a medic's route?

"You're being quiet Naruto." Kakashi called out again, "No thoughts to share?"

"Just wondering a few things."

"Oh?"

"If the biju we fought was part of the Ichibi then _why did it only start attacking a few days ago?_ It stands for hatred…it makes no sense to go after kids!" Naruto cried.

"It's a biju dobe." Sasuke shrugged, "They're beings of mass destruction. You can't understand them. I mean they don't think like humans."

Sakura nodded, "He's right Naruto. And who's to say bijus think at all?"

Naruto gritted his teeth. He hadn't expected creature racism from them but it chillingly highlighted how deep misconceptions ran in their society. Kurama growled in his mind and he forced his anger down. They don't know he reminded himself, they don't know.

…

The gates of Konoha appeared after about a day of walking and running from wild animals as Kakashi read his book.

"Team 7." Kakashi did not even have a single hair out of place! "Signing in."

"You're late Copy nin." Kotetsu drawled. "As usual."

Kakashi eye smiled, "Really not my fault this time."

"Oh yeah, what happened?" The gatekeeper grinned expecting a good story.

"Ran into a biju." Kakashi recited as if he was stating his shopping list.

Kotetsu and his partner burst out laughing. "Oh you're hilarious Cyclops." He waved them in chuckling.

Team 7 shared a nervous look. If their sensei's most ludicrous excuse was true…how many of his usual excuses were true too?

They walked through the busy streets pushing past laughing nin and civilians alike. The Hokage's office was dead centre (The Shodaime had thought people would have expected him to be clever and place his headquarters in a subtle place…he did the exact opposite) of the village and it was painted bright Konoha red. It was a cheerful place for all the questionable activities which took place in it.

Kakashi gripped them by the collars and guided them through the gaggle of shinobi so they didn't get trampled (Grow faster you three).

"I need an audience with the Hokage." He told the receptionist politely. Naruto looked at her and nearly had a heart attack. Anko under heavy layers of make-up blinked blankly at Kakashi and tittered.

"If you want an audience you will need to make an appointment." Sakura had noticed too and was staring with her jaw loose.

"Ahh that's fine." Kakashi smiled, "So are you free this evening?"

Anko raised an eyebrow under her make-up, "No, but the Hokage is free now. Go straight in and kick everyone who didn't make an appointment out." Sasuke blinked as if trying to clear his eyes. Then she saw Team 7 and she smiled innocently. _It was terrifying._ All of them felt cold sweat drip down their back. "What cute genin you have."

"Ma'am," squeaked Sakura.

"My how polite." Anko sat back and scribbled some notes down. "They certainly didn't pick it up from you Hatake san."

Kakashi looked affronted, "I see your heart is as cold as ever Lady Receptionist. I will see the Hokage now."

Anko laughed after them, "Learn my name first if you want me to give you a second look."

Kakashi chuckled and cleared the entire waiting room with a pointed look.

"Is that you Kakashi?" The Hokage's voice rang out amused from behind the door, "Come in, come in. I'm eager to hear your latest excuse for your tardiness."

"It's a bit of fun." Kakashi whispered to his genin before pushing the door open. He loved messing with Anko in that persona, she couldn't even retaliate.

The Sandaime looked up from a pile of paperwork as big as him.

"Ah welcome back team 7. How was your mission?"

Kakashi clicked his fingers, "Oh nothing too strenuous. Just some idiot chunin believing the village to be exaggerating, village children pancakes, crackling noises, salt, glass shards, broken ribs, other minor injuries, an old man, some explosives, total destruction of the area's waterways, and a destroyed biju. Now where exactly is that Chunin, again?"

The Hokage's thunder struck face told them all they needed to know.

…

**Credit goes to shirokuromokona for Kakashi's awesome line at the end. I just loved it and had to use it ^.^ Reviews are like letters to the wifi password to a bored teenager.**


	8. Chapter 8

**You might hate me after this chapter *sheepish look. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…I fear I'd inflict much, MUCH more horrible things on him than canon.**

Anko looked up from her papers as soon as she detected foreign chakra signatures. Who on earth would associate the wild eccentric Tokubetsu Jonin with the prim collected receptionist? It was the perfect cover for her and it meant the Hokage's paperwork and audiences were granted by someone competent. Hmm the strange signatures did have Konoha chakra surrounding them…and they were heading right for the building! She swivelled in her chair and whipped out a mirror to pretend to do her lipstick. Innocuously glancing in her expertly arranged set of mirrors on the walls and random areas she was able to see around the front of the building and spot the delegation coming to meet her. She snapped her mirror case closed and signed to the hidden ANBU to hide themselves further. They obeyed without a sound.

Two shinobi entered the Hokage's building. Nearly every shinobi in the reception area went on high alert…not that anyone other than them could tell. Heavy cowls obscured the nin's faces, leather criss-crossed their darker Jonin vest and camouflage boots made no sound on the deliberately squeaky wooden floors. Anko picked out three hidden pouches of kunai other than the obvious one, about five more areas of coiled wire and a senbon sheath on one of them. But the thing of special interest was their headbands. A single musical note carved from dull steel stared back at all of them.

Ibiki stepped in their way first.

"Identify yourselves and your purpose." His tone was flat.

The taller one shifted slightly, "We are diplomatic shinobi from Otogakure." He pushed his cowl back to reveal a face covered in bandages reminiscent of Kakashi's style. He was half blind Anko noticed incredulously. His left eye was white and blank and his other was a piercing gray.

"We wish to discuss alliance terms."

…..

Team 7 had just finished their mission report to a stunned Sandaime when an ANBU dropped silently from the ceiling to whisper in the Hokage's ear. If anything the Hokage's expression grew even more incredulous.

"Not dismissed. We need to talk Team 7. Properly." He got out while waving them away. "Kakashi send in the people after you and actually do the paperwork! Now."

Kakashi winced but bowed anyway. Team 7 followed suit and followed their sensei out of the door. On the other side of the door was a tall masked shinobi; he and Kakashi locked eye to eye and an invisible battle of wills took place. Finally the Nin stepped aside and let them pass with a smirk twisting his bandages.

Naruto gazed with mild suspicion at the headband. Well the Chunin exams were coming up and maybe Oto had sent people to discuss their involvement…everything was normal here then. But it was a little strange believing Orochimaru trained shinobi to talk and not fight their way to an agreement.

"Ahh the legendary Copy nin." The foreign Nin drawled, "We tell our children you're the monster that'll come and eat them up if they're bad." The weird thing was that it seemed like he believed that was a genuine compliment.

"You have me at an advantage." Kakashi returned his lazy tone offering no hint of his thoughts.

"Call me Tsuya."

"Of the Hosho clan." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Ahh you're well informed." Tsuya smiled, "I'll see you around Copy Cat." He swept past them with his partner inclining his head to them minutely.

"Who was he?" Sakura whispered, "His eye…"

"Tsuya Hosho of the Hidden Sound. He's a traitor Mist Jonin specialty assassination. Bingo book." He added after his genin gave him weird looks. "But question is what is he doing here?"

Naruto tapped on his leg. *You mean he isn't a diplomat? *

Kakashi sent him an incredulous look. *He's no more a diplomat than a dancer. No wonder they sent him to the Hokage…*

Hmm Oto could be trying to make a statement but Naruto couldn't shake off the feeling something was seriously wrong.

Sasuke coughed. A harried Chunin had pressed some paper work into his hands and run off. "Sensei I think we need to fill these out."

Kakashi's shoulders slumped. He _hated _that paperwork. "Sakura you have neatest writing…let's see how much you remember from my lecture a week ago." Ahh the joys of delegation.

Sakura sent him a dry look before unrolling the form. They nabbed three seats with Kakashi preferring to talk quietly to Anko.

"Hmm what is the rank of your mission?" She read out loud.

"Do we give the given rank or the actual rank?" Sasuke asked confused.

"Put both." Suggested Naruto leaning over.

"Okay…C/S rank..." Scribbled Sakura. "Taken by and under whom?"

"Team 7 under Kakashi."

"Jonin Hatake."

"Okay…Description of mission on paper."

"…We didn't see the mission scroll…"

"Make it up…like ridding a town of a pest."

"Extermination of animal..." Wrote the girl, "Description of mission in reality."

"Hell."

"Hell."

"Hell." Went the pen on the form. "If something went wrong, what was it?"

"The chunin classified it as the wrong rank."

"Everything."

Sakura wrote, "A series of small mistakes added up to make hell. Okay on a scale to 1 to fighting a biju how badly did the mission go FUBAR?"

"They must be joking."

No they really have that scale…"

"Wow. What a coincidence."

"Actually fighting a biju." Scribbled Sakura, "Injuries?"

"Yes."

"Lots."

"Yes….hmm now the actual report…*sigh*"

Sakura scribbled madly for the next few minutes while Sasuke read through his scroll and Naruto watched Anko act the innocent civilian secretary.

"Done…any comments?"

"Drown the chunin in paperwork." Came a dark answer.

"Kill him with paper cuts from our report." Came another sinister answer.

Scratch. Scratch. "Ok done." She stood up and brushed herself off, "We should hand it in."

"Isn't that Kakashi's job?" Bit out Sasuke glaring at Kakashi's back.

"It is yes." Sakura agreed.

"It's ok, Iruka's the one who collects paperwork. I'll go hand it in, I haven't seen him in forever." Naruto held his hand out eagerly.

…..

Iruka thanked another shinobi for a mission report, correctly filled in this time oh thank Kami, when he saw a flash of familiar blond hair. Naruto? Oh good he was alright…he hadn't seen him in a while. The blond hair popped up again in front of his desk and Naruto grinned up at him. Iruka smiled back warmly restraining himself from ruffling the troublemaker's hair.

"Your C rank was a success then Naruto?" He said accepting the report. A faint warning bell went off when Naruto's grin froze.

"Ahh Iruka sensei promise me you won't over react?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Why would I ove-OH MY GOD!"

"Because of that." Naruto sighed, "We're all alive and fine I swear. See…no injuries."

Iruka read the strange emotion gleaming behind blue eyes and sighed, "That's not the point Naruto, the point is you went up against an opponent we should have protected you from. Fighting a biju…" Iruka swallowed, "…Did you know it was a capital punishment back in the warring states? Whoever committed a heinous crime was sent to fight against a biju alone…You could have died so easily, your team could have died easily. It's frankly phenomenal you managed to survive let alone beat it. I know Naruto you're not an immature brat anymore but truth is…the younger generation shouldn't reap the mistakes of the elder generation." Iruka clenched his fists on the table. "I should have fought harder for you not to take the C rank."

"Sensei!" Naruto cut in worried, "How were you to know? We survived sensei…Take it as luck, fate or what you will but we did it. Surely that means something right? And next time I will get stronger so I don't have to be relegated into a supporter fighter again."

"What happened to protecting your precious ones?" Iruka asked half-jokingly.

"Well that's an insult to them isn't it? They all want to get stronger…and if I declare I am the one to protect them all…well I wouldn't want to be protected like a china doll, so I'll respect their strength. And trust in them to survive." In the war that was all he could do. He protecting them from Obito, they were protecting him from the other enemies…it was no use wanting to protect everybody. Everyone had to trust in each other to be strong for each other's sakes. "But I swear sensei I'll still take anyone down who threatens them."

"As a good friend." Iruka agreed half smiling bitterly. Naruto had grown so much in such a short time.

"As a good friend."

"And is that the philosophy you'll follow even when things get tough? When you're floundering in the dark?"

Naruto started badly. _A light in the dark…it could apply to a philosophy._ Iruka' brow furrowed.

"Yes." Naruto spoke hastily, "Of cour-"

His vision started going blurry. Oh no. The pale walls swam and blurred until oh no, not now.

"Sorry sensei, excuse me…I just remembered something!" He stumbled away and broke into a sprinting jog away from a confused Iruka.

No, no. He was busy godammit. He just managed to slam a bathroom stall door behind him before dropping with a thud to the tiled floor. His last thought was _this is troublesome._

….

The cold hit him like a sledgehammer. He doubled over gasping as his body started going numb. His breathed fogged up in the vast space as he fought to get used to the cold. Had it gone and got even colder?

_Ah Uzumaki san you're back. _A pleased note rang in the voice. _Have you come to give me your answers?_

"You are the one who dragged me here!" Naruto feebly waved a finger, "Don't pretend I'm here because I wanted to be."

There was a strange lilt to the voice now. _It was not I who dragged you here Uzumaki san. I am innocent._

"Really?" Naruto huffed, "Well about your riddle, I'm very confused. Everyone I ask keeps giving me contradictory answers." Inside his mind was racing, if it wasn't the weird voice who brought him here then who had? Was he telling a lie? What would he gain from that? Perhaps lure Naruto into thinking there was a separate force so they would ally together?

_Hmm does this mean you give up? _Mockery stained the tone. Where was the voice coming from exactly? All the echoes were throwing his depth perception off.

"Of course not. I give up and you eat me right?"

_Right. Well you have two days left._

"Is your name Contradict by any chance?"

The voice chuckled. _No Uzumaki san._

"What are you?" Naruto asked suddenly. "You should be able to answer that. No human can survive down here for long."

_You're a time traveller. _The voice said simply. _Flying through a vortex of time and space. Ripping through dimensions…your very existence here means thousands of suns burned to ashes to fuel you. Next to you…what could I possibly be to compete? I am human and I am alone. That is all you need to know._

"Flattery won't work on me. You are not human. You can transport my mind to places it hasn't seen before…you ripped me out of my body! No human can do such a thing. Not even the Yamanakas have such a power. You are a liar and a damned good one at that."

_Careful Uzumaki san. _Pause. _Or next time I'll also decide who is left in your body when I bring you here. _

So he had brought Naruto here? _He brought the Kyuubi with Naruto!?_

"You brought the Kyuubi out for a joy ride!" He choked out flabbergasted. The sheer power to do such a thing was mind boggling! "Okay this isn't real anymore. You can't just drag a biju around without a Sharingan and even then it's tricky!"

A wind blew in his face cold and sharp. As he blinked away his tears the voice whispered in his left ear.

_If you doubt me call out to your pet. _He looked sharply to his left but only dark space greeted him.

"Kurama! Are you there?" He called out warily.

A deep rumbling ran through the cavern shaking it from the foundations up.

**I thought you would never ask brat. **Kurama's familiar voice snarled through the cavernous area. **Are you slow or just plain stupid? And you! You would call me a pet! ME! **Kurama's indignation was clearly audible as blood red chakra misted from the icy water.

**I am the Kyuubi No Youko! I am the combined malice of all of humanity dead or alive and you dare say someone controls me! Come out into the light spectre so I may rip you limb from limb. **His voice literally shook the cavern as his last words became almost indistinguishable from fierce growling.

_Yet here you are…playing house with him. Or do you mean to say this is all part of a master plan by you eh…Master Biju? _The mildly mocking tone drove Kurama over the edge.

**You… **Kurama's voice trailed off in trembling rage. A cracking noise alerted Naruto to the situation. With some horror he turned to see the frozen walls and pipes crack ominously, splits ran all the way up the structures…spreading even as Naruto looked at them. Yawning searing darkness spilled from the breaks as Kurama roared.

Naruto fell to his knees instantly ducking under the icy water. He understood why the Kyuubi was said to be the most powerful in that instant. His chakra flooded the room, a thick choking miasma which when it contacted the metal…it caused the metal to hiss and slag on a cursing Naruto who kicked off from the edge through the freezing water to get away from the liquid metal. The numbness of his body and the ferocious hissing of the steam generated did not help his case!

The roar echoed in his very bones and his spirit. _Malice__**. Let me rip you. Let me bathe in your blood. Let me rise from your steaming carcass. **__Pure malice__**. I will burn you. I will tear you into a hundred pieces. I will paint the dawn red with your blood.**_

And Naruto knew if Kurama ever got the slightest of a chance he would do it. He gasped underwater, his mind straining under the pressure of the roar and all the unwanted emotions rushing up in him.

_**Come and face me. You puny little weakling. I will crush you. I will break you until you cannot breathe and even then you will not be allowed to die. I will put you in a box so small it'll be agony to blink. I will watch and after a thousand years you will not understand the depths of my malice.**_

He couldn't breathe. The pure hatred the Kyuubi was expelling caused all his muscles to lock up tight in terror. With an almighty crack the ceiling gave. Giant icy blocks smashed into the water sending waves and ice shards everywhere with ringing clarity. His vision was filled with frantic swimming, icy bubbles and his world turning upside down repeatedly as Naruto was swept away in the currents. The noise was thunderous. Stone and metal ripped under the corrosive chakra of the enraged biju and worse the light began to fade as it was sucked away and a staining dirty darkness leaked across the water like oil.

_You crazy fur ball! _He heard the voice shriek. _Stop destroying my home!_

_**You cannot command a natural disaster.**_

Something exploded. He didn't know what it was but the searing heat on his face in the water and the fact he was thrown bodily through the air along with a tsunami of icy green water and ice told him as much. He landed screaming in the darkness and to his horror didn't crash into the water there! With a lurch he kept falling through space and the utter blackness as the sounds of Kurama and the destruction of the area rang above him like giant's handclaps. He screamed! He was going to fall and die as soon as he hit the ground! He didn't want to die! He had so much left to do…

He crashed into something very big and wiry. Oooof! Then he was falling having bounced off the surface and crashing into other wiry surfaces until he hit water again. He gasped winded and scrambled to his feet. Where was he now? And what on earth had he hit? He shook his wet hair out of his face and froze. That was definitely the sound of breathing. Having a suspicion he reached out and touched the wiry surface and burrowed his fingers in. An intense heat met his fingers immediately and he pulled them out in a flash cradling them. While his fingers had felt the heat he had also felt a pulsing wall of flesh. He had crashed into a huge animal and he had an inkling exactly who it was.

An almighty crash came from behind him as the coat rippled with steel like muscles and Naruto was once again swept up by the water and washed up beyond the Kurama's cage. He spat out some water and staggered to his feet. If Kurama's cage was here then he was in his mindscape and that voice was a great big liar…He hadn't been dragged out of his body at all! Kurama had always been there!

"Kurama!" He called, "Please calm down! That's my mind you're wrecking up there!" The fox's great head swivelled to meet him at his level. The reddish fur was just visible in the dying light like old stained blood. But the eye. The eye burned. It was threaded with orange and yellow and dark gold and every single shade of that burning metal as possible and the over effect was that it glowed bright as a star in the darkness. There was so much raw emotion; malice, hatred, wildness; in that eye that Naruto for a second almost lost control of his own negative emotions.

He stumbled forward. Kurama watched him come silently. That was the most terrifying of all, before he had always made a sound; whether it be breathing or huffing. Now complete silence. Kurama may as well not have been there. Naruto placed his hand above Kurama's eye and felt the heat rolling off his hide.

"Please. You're my partner not my pet no matter what he may say."

**Your partner? **Kurama rumbled suddenly. **What if I wanted to finish my obliteration of your village brat? Would we still be partners? What if I desired to make you consume the flesh of your enemies…I am a wild beast Naruto. I decide who my partners are. **The terrible burning eye closed in a blink. **But enough of that. I grow tired of this farce.**

_You…you are a royal pain. _The voice was ragged in a corner. Naruto strained but couldn't see him.

…..

Naruto's body in the stall convulsed and began to bleed profusely from the mouth and eyes. A puddle of blood spread across the black tiles.

…..

_Enough. I apologize Uzumaki san, the conditions of our original deal depended on that room being intact. I'm changing the deal. Answer in the next minute or be consumed by me. _The gasping and heavy breathing didn't sound too good.

Naruto himself wasn't feeling too well. He coughed and fought a pounding headache.

"That's your problem isn't it?" He hissed, "I still have two days left."

_You don't understand. Regardless whether you agree or not I'll be the one eating so my decisions hold._

**He's serious. About everything brat. I'd take him seriously if I were you. **Kurama idly licked his claws.

Naruto felt a rising urge to panic. He had a minute to come up with a solution for the impossible riddle! So it was a hope, a trap, a truth, a deceit, a philosophy, a person and there were so many things it could be!

"How are you planning to eat my mental self?" He asked sceptically to buy himself more time.

For the first time he saw a flash of white. Teeth. And frankly it terrified him. _With great relish._

Well that failed.

_10. 9. 8.7._

Crap.

_._

He was screwed.

_2.1. Tim-_

"Are you who ever sent me back?"

_That is not a name Uzumaki kun. _The voice sounded amused.

"What no san anymore?"

_It's not very polite to eat someone and call them stronger is it? Prepare yourself._

There was a flash. And something heavy knocked Naruto in the back of the legs; he crumpled with a startled cry and rolled to his feet in a defensive position heart beating fast.

…..

"Holy crap!" A chunin entered the bathroom only to nearly slip on the growing slick of blood. "MEDIC! GET A MEDIC IN HERE!"

He kicked the door open and found Naruto immediately. Dropping to his knees he checked for a pulse swearing under his breath.

….

He could only see a few feet in every direction in the dim red light. He scanned calmly but nothing moved in the darkness.

Bam. His hand shot out and blocked an incoming foot. It retreated just as fast and he could hear whoever it was circling him.

"Are you going to tell me your name now?" He called out warily.

_You lost our deal. Why should you know?_

"You were living in my head." He spoke flatly, "I'd like to know how you got in and who you are."

There was a pregnant pause…then a flurry of attacks; Naruto countered with blocks slipping a few hooks of his own through the opponent's defence. A brutal kick to his kidney was turned aside with the side of his palm. His punch was slapped away. He ducked a sweeping kick and lashed out, Spectre twisted and leapt to spin his other leg at Naruto's head. Naruto caught it and threw it backwards causing Spectre to somersault; he aimed a kick for Spectre's midsection but he kicked off Naruto's foot and landed behind him to aim for his kidneys. Naruto's hand blurred and met Spectre's punch with equal force while his other hand punched Spectre's stomach hard. At the same time he felt a bruising kick to his knee and he almost stumbled. They sprang apart splashing on the water. Naruto rolled his shoulders…he had much of his previous strength and speed back in his mind. Trouble was they were pretty evenly matched.

Ah well such a pity he could outnumber Spectre.

_Kage bunshin!_

Nothing happened.

"What." Ninjutsu had always worked in his mind scape before! Kurama started laughing.

**I was wondering when that would happen. You idiots you've disconnected the body from the mind! So no physical energy brats…I'm the only thing stopping the heart from stopping…and my generosity only stretches so far. **A flash of vulpine teeth gleamed in the dark.

Ok…only Taijutsu then. This could take a while…

He was tackled from behind. He crashed into the floor with a wheeze and twisted just in time to catch the blow to his nose. He kicked hard upwards and hit Spectre in the stomach throwing him off entirely. Blood and water dripped off both of them as Naruto scrambled up and threw himself on Spectre to get his hands around his neck. Spectre retched and crashed his own head into Naruto's causing him to see stars. Naruto's grip gave and Spectre rolled him over knee digging painfully into Naruto's diaphragm. But he was a bit too slow to secure Naruto so he slugged Spectre across the face causing him to spin and fall off Naruto with a curse. Water splashed where Spectre landed and Naruto blinked blood out of eyes heart hammering painfully. He coughed wetly and he didn't know if it was the light or not which made his hand appear red.

Spectre seemed to be having a hard time too judging from the pained wheezes. Naruto didn't intend to give him time to recover. He barrelled at Spectre, ducked under his fist to palm strike at Spectre's side only to hit open air and having to twist himself to avoid Spectre's chop to the spine. Why did Naruto seem to getting more tired than usual?

….

"Hatake!" The yell echoed through the reception. Kakashi looked up surprised as did Anko.

"Maa what's wrong?"

"Get in here quickly! And grab the nearest medic nin!" Kakashi exchanged a weird look with Anko but grabbed a passing medic all the same and shunshinned over.

….

Hands grabbed Naruto's shirt and he was slammed into the prison bars hard. Pain blossomed in his shoulder as Spectre's teeth sank into the flesh and bit hard. His breath escaped him as he punched Spectre in the stomach and hurled him into another post. He leapt at him with a kick but Spectre kicked making him kick the bar instead. He used his own foot as a lever and tossed himself upwards, above Spectre so he slammed into him from above and pinned Spectre into the ground.

"Who are you!?" He roared.

_No one you need to worry about. _Spectre hissed before kicking Naruto off with both feet. Naruto staggered backwards but kicked out low in a sweeping arc. Spectre leapt and kicked out, Naruto dodged and hit the leg from the side. Rather than resisting Spectre moved with the hit so he spun in the air and landed in front of Naruto. Who promptly grabbed him by the hair and slammed Spectre into a post. Spectre retaliated brutally by grabbing Naruto's jaw and smashing his head into the post too. Both were bleeding from numerous cuts and bruises now and their grip on each other was becoming slick. Suddenly Naruto saw a chance and hurled himself backwards along with Spectre who came with a startled yell.

They skidded into the arc of red light and Naruto got his first glimpse of Spectre.

…

Kakashi's eye widened at the pool of blood and at the sight of his unconscious bleeding student in a chunin's arms.

"Give him to me." He snapped and carefully took Naruto's too small body in his own careful not to jostle anything. Blood tracks ran down Naruto's face and Kakashi was struck with grim thoughts.

"Here Jonin Hatake. Let me see him." The medic ordered. Her hand lit up with the green diagnostic jutsu and she frowned.

"What?" He asked barely wanting to know. "What!?"

"There's nothing wrong with him." She replied in a daze.

"What do you mean there's nothing wrong with him! He's coughing up blood and bleeding from his eyes!" Kakashi bit out.

"I know!" Her surprise only fuelled his own confusion. What on earth had done this to Naruto? Heaven's sake he only took his eye off them for 10 minutes!

…..

Blond hair and narrowed blue eyes stared back in a face which was utterly familiar to Naruto.

"How?" He stuttered releasing Spectre. "You're me."

_Very astute. _Spectre bit out. _What gave it away?_

"What's going on?! Are you an alternate me? Another me who time travelled!?"

_Try original occupant. _Spectre spoke dryly.

Naruto blinked in horror. "I…took your place?" Spectre rolled his eyes and sat down motioning for Naruto to sit down too.

_Ah you know who I am now. Might as well get rid of some frustrations. I have a bone to pick with you Uzumaki san._

But you're Naruto too. Why call me that?" Naruto pointed out.

Spectre's eyes flashed. _I am Naruto. You…are an imposter. Nii-san._

Naruto almost choked, "I'm the brother who taught you about survival!?"

_You kicked me out of my body. _Returned Spectre evenly. _I had to fight to survive as an independent being and not get absorbed by your memories. I call that survival._

"You were trying to eat me…" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

_I wanted my body back! Is that such a crime? Who are you to take my life…I wanted to live it! _Spectre jumped to his feet and started to pace on the water.

"But how can two of us exist in the same time line?" Naruto asked, "I am a development of you so I should have slotted right back…I think."

_That's your problem. _Spectre glared. _How do you think I feel about you living my life and making my friends? We've been ignored all our lives…it was finally going to change for me…then you came and ruined it. _Bitter tones undercoated Spectre's words.

"You knew about this Kurama?" Naruto asked the old fox who cracked open an eye.

**Technically I am sealed in his body brat.**

_I wanted to grow up and be someone people admired you know…People admired you, you were powerful but what happened Uzumaki? When did you get so cold? Shutting yourself off from others, taking all the burdens on your own shoulders…lying. What happened to me? _His voice broke on the last line and Naruto closed his eyes unable to deal with the raw emotion exposed in that line.

"I didn't realise." He whispered, "I'm guessing you saw what happened…everyone is getting a second chance."

_I should be having my chance!_ Spectre hurled at Naruto.

"But you'll turn out like me! You are me! You know exactly what's going to happen if you take control…There would be no point!"

_Exactly I know the future too! I can save everyone too, I won't let them die this time! I feel like I know them too Uzumaki. All of them. _Spectre placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders and bumped foreheads blue eyes blazing into blue. _Give me control._

Naruto bit his lip. "I can't. You may be me but you're different too. Or are you really going to tell me I had this much intelligence and skill at our age now?"

_What does that matter? _Spectre huffed. _I am stronger, smarter than who I was…_

"So you weren't able to separate yourself completely from my memories." Naruto murmured. "I refuse to hand over control." Spectre's eyes burned.

_Hmmf conjecture…if I couldn't separate myself completely from your future memories then what makes you think you separated yourself from me? We lied…we're not our young and old selves…we're a mix and match now._

The hair on the back of Naruto's neck stood up straight. "Is that why my reactions don't match up with a war veteran's? I'm not myself anymore…" he narrowed his eyes, "If that is true then your argument about it being your chance holds no merit. We're all mixed up."

Spectre cocked his head. And vanished. Naruto somersaulted. Just in time Spectre reappeared in front of him, foot breaking where Naruto had been seconds before.

_Then I'll take it by force. _Shaking his hair free of water Naruto was reminded of his father standing opposite the battlefield.

"Wait! Why don't we merge into one person again?" Naruto cried out skidding back on the water.

Spectre had a strange sad smile. _Because if we didn't let the Kyuubi take over our individualities…and we resisted the loss of our personalities what makes you think we CAN merge? Or that we'll allow ourselves to lose ourselves in a chaotic mix?_

He thrust at Naruto with a palm strike who knocked it aside and lashed out at Spectre's side. The blow didn't connect as they stumbled away from each other retching. Spectre collapsed to his knees while Naruto doubled over dry heaving. Their throats burned and stomachs rolled unpleasantly.

**Oh would you look at that? I find myself running quite low on my chakra all of a sudden. **Kurama flicked his tails lazily, lying shamelessly.

"What!?" _What! _Screamed both Narutos at the same time.

**Well I am quite angry with one of you and annoyed at the other. **Kurama grinned idly.

Spectre had made his opinion clear. Only one of them was going to inherit the body…and now they had a time limit. He couldn't afford to be sentimental!

_You've come to the same conclusion as me haven't you? _Spectre asked dryly.

…..

Kakashi rushed through the ANBU medic area with Naruto. He pressed off lightly and took off like a bullet past startled ANBU and wide eyed rookies. Was that ex captain Inu? What on earth was he doing back!?

"Stop! Kakashi!" A voice called out, "You're not ANBU anymore! You can't access this area."

"Neko." Kakashi said sharply, "Do you really think I came in here for a joy ride? Stand down operative."

"Look at the blood Neko." Yuugao's voice drifted over. "Kakashi-"

He didn't hear her. He was already three corridors down and spin kicking the door to the main medical bay.

All the medics had heard him coming of course and a spare operative ran over and took Naruto from him.

"How long has he been like this?" He asked crisply.

"I don't know, he was found five minutes ago." Kakashi's vest was muddy with his student's blood leaking through. Red flecked his silver hair as he bent over a violently coughing Naruto. "Poison?"

The medic shook his head, "It'll have to be a very rare and strong poison to affect a Jinchuuriki this much." He said distractedly. "Strange…he's unconscious yet coughing up blood. This shouldn't be happening."

"How much blood can he stand to lose?"

"His marrow is replacing the blood as fast as it is being expelled but the worrying thing is…" The ANBU's sharp green eyes met Kakashi's. "It's slowing down. If he doesn't snap out of soon he could die of stress and blood loss."

…..

Two flashes kicked off against each other. Kicking low one flash ducked absurdly to dodge the other flash spin kicking in the air. The two flashes blurred at close range with punches, jabs and blocks before one leaped over the other using their momentum to throw the other but the other flash held on tight and spun the original around leaving both to stagger back.

_It would really be useless to tell you to give up wouldn't it? _Spectre spoke, blood dying his lips and throat scarlet. As he spoke he spat out more blood which splashed a distance away from him.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "About as useless as this fight in which neither of us is going to win for a very long time."

_Hmm agreed. Eh Kyuubi remember your promise?_

**Eh?** Kurama sounded almost as surprised as Naruto was feeling.

_Whoever hold the most malice in their hearts you will side with. _Spectre walked slowly in a circle. _With you on a side the battle will be over. So choose Kyuubi. _Spectre turned to Naruto. _Can you compete with the hatred I feel for you?_He asked quietly.

"I can't bring myself to hate you." Naruto admitted, "I can see perfectly where you are coming from. If I was in your position I honestly don't know what I would have done. But forgive me otouto I can't give up on my dream so easily."

_What about my dream Nii san? You had your shot and you failed…I have a new dream now. Yes I know the folly we faced, you do not deserve another chance. Exactly who have you changed? Who have you saved? You're a pawn Aniki…in this sea of instability._ _I will take your dream forward…and carve a new era in the age of the ninja. Love failed. Strength failed. Now we will see if malice can combine what either of the two couldn't. _Spectre lightly made his way over the floor.

"Why so fixated on your hatred? It'll destroy you from the inside!" Naruto shouted.

Spectre raised his arms. _It is hate that made me. _He said simply. _We are strong people Nii san, to stop myself from being absorbed…I had to hold on to something stronger. The moment I let my anger go…I'll die. I love you as a brother. I hate you as my enemy. I am defined by what I feel. I exist. _Spectre placed a hand over his heart. _I can understand Gaara now but I wish I didn't. If hate is stronger than you…then it can succeed where you failed. I want to save the world too! I am not the bad guy here! _He snarled.

"You are what I could have been." Naruto whispered, "I can see myself in you which is terrifying. Bad guy? We're both grey people in a world of washed out hues. Even Kaguya believed she was doing the right thing."

**Come closer little jailers. **Kurama rumbled. The great fox shifted so both of his eyes blazed out in the dark a sinister grin baring his teeth.

"Kurama you're my eternal partner but right now I just don't trust you." Naruto backed away quickly.

_Choose Kyuubi. _Spectre hissed.

"Wait! How do you know he's not going to choose you because you're on the side of malice and are a being of malice while I am…something else?" Naruto asked quickly.

Spectre looked taken aback. _Erm._

**Well make your mind up. Do you want me to choose or don't you? **Kurama growled.

_I don't want to win because of the Kyuubi wanting his own agendas fulfilled. _Spectre growled. _If I win I will do it fairly._

Naruto shot him a look, "You mean if I had won our game you would have let me keep control of the body?"

_Of course, I always keep my word. _Spectre huffed in indignation.

….

"Taichou!" The medic roared. "His chakra levels are hitting critical levels!" A bustle of medics burst into frantic whispers and started running around.

Kakashi was stunned. Naruto, Naruto of all people was running out of chakra?!

"Hatake san, he is now rapidly losing blood and his chakra levels are halving every few minutes. I can only guess that if the Kyuubi had been lending his support it has now been withdrawn and his own chakra is trying desperately to keep him alive." The medic wiped blood out of his eyes.

Kakashi nodded, "You need wind chakra right? I can grab Asuma?"

"No it'll not be necessary Hatake san. We have Yin seals of nothing but pure elemental chakra are our disposal. He will not die of chakra exhaustion I guarantee." He however didn't say anything about the blood loss. "Please move back. This is a delicate process."

Kakashi stepped back and watched medics swarm his student fitting ugly metal braces around his head and other key chakra coils. He was barely recognisable; pale against the stark white sheets locked in a harsh metal frame while two medics sent a steady stream of pure wind chakra into his coils taking care not to rip them apart in the process. No one cared if he was a Jinchuuriki here…now he was only a comrade.

…

Both of them lay on the floor, too weak to even move.

_Kyuubi you bastard. _Wheezed out Spectre.

"Ahhhh…" Said Naruto ever so eloquently.

**Well don't you two look pathetic? **Kurama hummed grinning. **Tick tock after all.**

"How did you survive for so long without this happening?" Naruto raised his head slightly and groaned.

_That room…the cold separated you and I, slowed down the merging to almost nil. _Spectre gasped.

"Merging? We're merging?"

_No…merging's not the right word. It's backlash from having two minds in one body. We're both dying now…" _Spectre lightly banged his head against the floor, the water licking across his face.

"So the only choice is for one of us to die?" Naruto asked weakly feeling very cold which had nothing to do with his sapping body heat.

_Yeah…this sucks…_

"Can we make the room again? Give us a bit more time to sort this out."

_But it's never going to get sorted! You won't give up control and I won't stop until I get control! _Spectre sighed. _We really draw bad hands in life don't we Nii san?_

…..

"We're losing him. In 3…2…1…"

Kakashi felt the familiar lightning chakra get forced into the heart of his student who arched his back and fell back limply. Naruto was in serious danger of dying and they didn't know why? Why?! What could have done this! He paced the floor dark intent rolling off him. If someone had murdered his sensei's son he would track them down and rip them apart with his own hands. His heart clenched painfully in his chest cavity.

"And again…3…2…1…Discharge."

Crackle.

Beep-beep.

**I'm sorry! I swear the Chunin scene will be included in the next chapter. Writing Spectre is really hard…darker Naruto is quite difficult I keep wanting to make him do evil laughter but no I restrained myself…thankfully. Can I get some feedback on him? And who should die? Or should I find a way to make them both live? I'll try to make a poll for you to vote. Anyone who reviews I love you to bits! And above a 100 reviews, guys woo-hoo!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yo. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Right I've been getting comments that Sakura doesn't have the chakra reserve necessary to carry off elemental jutsus. I absolutely agree. What she is doing all the time is just converting her chakra to fire, nothing else. That is just a proper application of chakra control and I think she should be able to do that. So no she won't be shooting fireballs any time soon but she can make sparks. The Chunin scene was meant to be short guys…but ahh you'll see. It kind of ran away with me. Here you go then! A nice light chapter after all the dark stuff I was writing. **

"…I'd give you flowers but I'd think you prefer,

Blood down my body from the "accidents" that occur,

Kunai once thrown are changed from the flight,

Glinting and dancing in the bloody red light,

Mesh may be concealing, dango might be sweet,

But we are shinobi: broken, machines, incomplete,

The Sandaime will talk of the will of fire,

A literal inferno on our funeral pyre-"

Anko's grip nearly splintered the edge of her desk as Gai continued to recite a bloody awful romantic poem to her in the middle of the reception. His eye had a teasing glint to it which told her this was one of the eternal rival dares and the tragic thing was she couldn't react! After all her civilian persona was prim and stern and couldn't go leaping over desks to strangle people with blunt kunai. She grinned showing all her teeth and was satisfied to see the green shinobi flinch slightly back as if anticipating his punishment when Anko caught up to him.

"Maito san." She breathed warningly smiling faintly, "You are causing a disturbance."

"Do you not like the tune?" Gai asked smiling, "Rhyming couplets if I'm not mistaken." The underlying meaning got picked up by Anko. _Were there two of the sound nin? Did they threaten you?_

She sighed, "It is rhyming couplets and while the tune is nice…I'd rather not listen to it here." _Yes two of them, not now Gai._

"Gai." Asuma's voice drawled lazily, "Message from a talking turtle…Kami's sake is this normal or is this a bad day? Right it goes 'Save me'. Ring any bells?"

Gai cocked his head, "Ahh it seems my youthful students have worn him out at last! I must check on them!" With a last parting thumbs up he ran off considerately not leaving a cloud of dust behind.

"Wait!" Anko shouted after him, "Where did Kakashi go?! He dumped his goddamn paperwork with me!"

His answer was lost in the wind and leaves. She sighed. "Sarutobi san." She nodded at Asuma. He nodded back agreeably but did not say anything.

The Hokage's door opened. Everybody went on high alert again. The sound nins stepped out closed the door like a civilian and strode silently to Anko's desk. She laced her fingers together.

"How may I help you Messrs Shinobi?"

"Tsuya Hosho." One of them bowed politely, "This is Jomyaku." The cowled nin inclined his head slightly. Anko nodded back warily. "The Third gave this to give to you." Tsuya handed over a slip of paper between two fingers.

Anko accepted it feeling under her fingers the coarse dots which told her the message had been unaltered. Glancing at it she raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." She murmured picking herself off her desk. "Follow me."

Tsuya glanced at a hovering Asuma and smirked slightly, "Let me guess your path just happens to coincide with hers?" He coolly dragged on his cigarette and blew out. "Aaah I thought Konoha was the nicest ninja village?" Tsuya drawled eyes hooded.

"Nice does not mean soft Jonin Hosho." Asuma spoke carelessly softly. His eyes however were as sharp as his wind blades. The two nin locked eyes. Tension rose like a fine mist between them as killing intent slowly started to leak from both Jonin.

"Hosho san." Anko cut in firmly, "If you will follow me. Jomyaku san?" Jomyaku turned to her and nodded holding out the door for a startled Anko.

"He's very polite with the ladies, don't mind him." Tsuya waved off. "Is the pretty receptionist going to show two _Jonin_ around a ninja village?" His tone betrayed his incredulity. "Though it might be incredibly safe too." He added hastily as Jomyaku turned to face him and something burned searing hot where his eyes should have been.

…

_Hah, hah. _Spectre pushed himself with great difficulty to his feet and immediately staggered.

"What are you doing?" Naruto strained to follow.

_Defying fate._

"Explain." Naruto ordered not wanting to waste more words than necessary.

_You don't want to die. I don't want to die. The way we're going we're both gonna die. Or alternative is one of us die. _Spectre gasped out. _I refuse. I simply refuse._

Naruto fell to his knees retching up blood so his mouth tasted of old copper and the smell started to make him sick. "What happened to eating me?"

_Ahh I think you'll give me indigestion. _Spectre grinned weakly. _Eating my own flesh is quite off-putting. I still want control of the body though._

Naruto went very still. "So our only problem is we have two minds in one body…" He spoke slowly.

_It took you this long to figure that out? _

"Baka!" Naruto would have rolled his eyes if he could. "What do we specialise in!?"

Spectre went very still then collapsed to his side grunting. _Do it! Hurry!_

Naruto looked around frantically. How did he connect his mind to his body again?

"Kurama?! How do I get back?"

**Yell…Please amazing miraculous Fox God…send me back to my worthless human body!**

"What. I'm not doing that!"

**Well look who's on the floor coughing their lungs out.**

"Fine…Please amazing miraculous Fox God…send me back to my worthless human body!" Naruto yelled cringing.

Kurama grinned in amusement before waving a paw grandly. **Request granted little worm.**

His vision began to blur rapidly. Red, black and blond all smudged together like an abstract painting and twisted so when he rapidly blinked several times he found himself face to face with a rusted metal construct.

"He's awake!" Cries followed his pounding head. "But his condition isn't improving!" Oh Kami would they please keep the noise down?

"Let me up." His tongue felt like heavy lead in his mouth and dragged his words into a slurry mess. He tried to sit up but the cold metal barred his path.

"Stay down Naruto." Kakashi's voice snapped from off the side. "You try to get up and say you're fine I will personally snap your legs and put you back in!"

Naruto stopped moving very quickly. The hidden relief, fury and irritation in Kakashi's voice would do that to anyone.

"I leave you for ten minutes." Kakashi barked stepping into his vision, "Ten minutes! And what do you go do? You go and have a seizure and leak blood all over the place. Do you think that is acceptable for a shinobi?"

Naruto retched up more blood as an answer. Kami he felt awful. Kakashi's face hardened.

"My hands." Mumbled Naruto, "I know how to fix it." He felt rather than saw Kakashi's incredulous face and felt despair. If he couldn't free his hands he wouldn't last long! "Sensei, my hands please!"

"Hatake san." The medic cut in firmly, "You disrupt the framework and the chakra flow is disrupted. He will die. Stay still Genin."

Kakashi thought for a few seconds. Who to trust? The expert medic or his time travelling student? Could he trust in Naruto enough to not let himself die? Or was this a reckless decision brought about by war adrenaline? He could physically see the enjoyment of a fight etched around his student's eyes. No…Naruto no…don't enjoy a fight. Don't enjoy war.

Recognising danger the ANBU medic intervened quickly. "Hatake san. He's getting worse. Out of that frame he will last ten seconds. Maximum." Naruto's and Kakashi's hearts nearly stopped.

Naruto felt very small and cold inside. The fact that now he had a time limit made everything a hundred times scarier. His heart slowed in his chest and he gritted his teeth. He didn't have time to second guess himself! Spectre was depending on him.

"That's a risk I have to take." Naruto got out between numbing lips, "Hurry! I can feel the cold now." Indeed it felt like chips of ice were floating in his blood stream instead of blood now. He could hear his own rushing pulse and the noise made him feel a bit heady.

Kakashi looked at him. Really looked at him. Noticed the determined scratches on his face, the stubborn tilt of the jaw and had to conclude no Naruto had no intention of dying any time soon. Before he could regret it his hand lashed out and ripped the frame immobilising Naruto's hands away like paper. The medics yelled in shock.

Naruto grinned savagely and brought both hands together shakily. Kakashi's heart almost stopped again. He and the medic lunged forward to stop the fool! Kage bunshin at such a low chakra state would kill him!

_Kage bunshin._

A second Naruto appeared, bone white and shaking on the blood filmed tiles.

_Get away from me!_ The clone gasped feebly waving a hand and breathing deeply on all fours.

"Did it work?" A voice whispered from the bed.

_Yeah. Took over your clone just in time. _The clone held up a hand to the air. _I had almost forgotten what the sun felt like. It's so…warm._

"He's stabilized." A stunned medic from Naruto's side spoke in shock. "They're both stable!"

Kakashi gripped the clone by the elbow. _Hey let go. Who'r-Kakashi? _Kakashi blinked. Why did a copy of his student not recognise him?

…

"Bring team 7 back." The Hokage ordered to a shadow. The shadow bowed and melted back into the wall. He steepled his fingers and thought hard. This was worrying…if the bijus had parts that split off…then all the countries could restart a war to obtain more of them. Or call dibs on wandering parts because they held the original.

…

"Genin Haruno, Genin Uchiha." Came a clipped voice to a bored Sasuke and Sakura. "The Hokage wishes to see you. Where is Genin Uzumaki and Jonin Hatake?" They looked around for the voice but they couldn't see where it came from.

"Naruto went to hand in his mission report and Sensei got called by someone." Sakura hesitantly got out.

"Report to the Hokage. I will send the remaining members in a minute." Was it them or did the shadow get a little less dark?

…..

Iruka looked up from his paperwork to the irate ANBU.

"Can I help you Master ANBU?"

"Genin Uzumaki was last seen with you. Where did he go then?"

"Umm." Iruka leaned back, "Well he suddenly said he had to do something then ran off. In that direction." He waved in the direction of the bathroom.

The masked ANBU nodded in thanks then strode off with an easy grace.

…

Raising an eyebrow at the chunin blasting water jutsus at the bloody floor he tapped him on the shoulder. Immediately the ANBU had to block a punch to the face and one to the stomach. Not bad.

"What happened here?"

The chunin blinked then withdrew his fist, "Ahh a genin was found collapsed and bleeding a short while ago. I called his sensei and he took the genin off to find a better medic."

"Would they be Genin Uzumaki and Jonin Hatake by any chance?"

"Yes, but I don't know where they went for a better medic."

"That's fine." The ANBU said dismissively weaving a few hand signs, "Back to your post."

"…Hai."

…..

"Naruto and Kakashi are detained for the time being." The Hokage puffed on his pipe, "So it's just you. This isn't ideal but just answer my questions as best as you can."

"What's wrong with them?"

"An injury opened up Sasuke. They're getting it treated now." The Hokage blew out several smoke rings.

Sakura glanced at a confused Sasuke, "Lord Hokage…we were all treated at the outpost. To full health."

"Apparently you weren't. Now questions."

"Hai."

"…Hai."

Hiruzen thought for a second how to ask his questions that genin would understand and actually be able to give an answer.

"Do you think that your fight matched up with reports of fighting actual biju?"

"No." Sasuke stared him straight in the eyes, "We wouldn't be here if it was an actual biju."

"How so?" Hiruzen sat forward interested.

"Because it didn't have the chakra." Sasuke's lips moved, "It pulled off no jutsus, there wasn't any special ability and it just wasn't as smart as it should have been."

"There's one more thing." Sakura whispered, "A biju can't be killed."

"Yes." Hiruzen laced his fingers together not looking at them. "You did not kill it exactly. The exact explanation is beyond you but what you did was scatter it. Don't worry it's very unlikely that it'll form again."

He watched the blood drain out of their faces grimly, "That village." Sakura said hoarsely. "If it scattered…what happened to them?"

He was silent for a moment, "The Ichibi stands for hate." He said slowly, "When you scattered it, the hate which was collected in the part dispersed and settled upon the nearest living beings."

Sasuke looked like he could faint, "They had the force of a biju's hate acting on them?" He choked out.

"Yes…there were no survivors." Both genin's eyes went wide with shock.

"We killed the village…" Sakura whispered.

"No. The village was doomed either way. If you did not kill it the biju would have picked them off one by one. The only solution was to seal it and well…there are few of that calibre left." Hiruzen's mouth felt so old when speaking those terrible words.

Sakura's head dropped into her hands and Sasuke closed his eyes in a strange emotion.

"Do Naruto and sensei know?"

"Not yet."

…

"How can this be? Making a kage bunshin should have been detrimental." A medic shook his head in confusion.

_Don't call me a Kage Bunshin. _The bunshin snapped. _I have a name._

"Naruto." Kakashi deadpanned.

_Exactly._

"You're a chakra construct of the genin." The head medic said with a raised eyebrow, "This is the first I'm hearing of a bunshin demanding his own individuality."

_Well I'm special. _The bunshin got out through gritted teeth. _Do I need to be on the verge of dying too before I get any assistance?_

"You're a bunshin!" Came the answer as if it was obvious.

_I'm also the person who's stopping him from dying. _The bunshin jerked a thumb at the sleeping Naruto. _I pop and he goes back to dying._

The medics stared at him in fascination and one beckoned him forward.

…..

_Keep an eye on the boy…_

Easier said than done. Konoha Jonin were notoriously protective of their genin, even Orochimaru kept himself updated on his past apprentice's progress. Tsuya drummed his fingers on the table. The woman had shown them to the diplomat's building and left them with diplomatic passes. He fingered his absent-mindedly, tossing it in the air and catching it by two fingers.

Sound was a relatively new player, they had neither the age old tradition of the Rock nor the ferocious reputation of the Mist and so nobody trusted them. It would be difficult to complete their mission…

"_Do you want us to bring him back?" Tsuya knelt at the base of the dais. "It will be difficult but I will see it done."_

"_No." A cool voice floated down, "Observe him, I will take him from there myself." The sibilance in his voice only served to crawl over Tsuya's skin reminding him that the man was one of the most dangerous men ever to have lived._

_A pained voice gasped in agony as the man smartly broke his collar bone. The coppery stench of blood attacked his nose as the slurping blood dripped down the steps to pool around Tsuya's knees. He ignored it as best as he could._

"_May I ask, why me and not one of the others? I am an assassin not an infiltrator."_

_Hissing chuckles echoed. "Exactly. While they wrack their heads to understand who you want to kill I will swoop in and take him from under their noses. Who expects a rabbit to dress up as a wolf dressed up as a rabbit and sneak back in the hutch?"_

"_I am no rabbit." He protested._

"_You are what I tell you to be." It wasn't a reprimand, more of an amused statement. "Prepare yourself Jonin, you leave at the last bell." A voice screamed as a Tsuya could hear a vicious ripping. He shuddered mentally wondering what on earth the man had done to truly make Orochimaru that furious._

"_Oh take Jomyaku with you." The man's voice lazily called after him, "Before he destroys any more labs of mine."_

_He nodded and carried on out._

"Why are you really here Jomyaku?" He said out loud not really expecting an answer.

He got none.

…..

Kakashi stared at his now two students. The original Naruto and the clone had been given blood pills and another chakra infusion by the medics and deemed salvaged. But now…Naruto had a vicious weakness. If that bunshin popped he would go right back to dying. Why was it always Naruto giving him the maximum trouble?

"If you get popped can he remake you?" He asked finally to the bunshin.

_Yes but please don't test that. _It said warily.

"When will you run out of chakra?"

The clone scuffed his foot, _A few days…four at the most. Kyuubi forced some of his chakra into me so I don't know for sure._

"Head for Jiraiya." Naruto intervened, "If you can relearn Sage you can absorb chakra from the surroundings to stay alive."

_But I'll never be able to become a ninja if I pop on the first hit! _The bunshin cried in distress.

"Become a ninja?" Kakashi picked up, "You're already a ninja."

"Oh Kakashi he's my younger self. Spectre meet Kakashi, Kakashi meet Spectre."

"Spectre? That's not Japanese?"

_Yurei then. I don't care. _Yurei gazed wistfully at Naruto. _I got my own body but lost my identity. I call that a bittersweet win what do you say Aniki?_

"So you would have been my student." Kakashi squatted to see Yurei in the eye. "You're different to what I imagined Naruto to be like."

Yurei stared right back. _Good. He's a naïve idiot._

"Don't call your Nii-san a baka." Naruto scolded, "Sensei can we get him to Jiraiya? Wait he comes here for the Chunin exams doesn't he? Yes…you can see him then. That's only like a week away."

"That is manageable." Kakashi admitted, half admiring how Naruto had roped him into helping even though he only got an explanation a minute ago. "You'll need to reinforce Yurei though. Question is what do you tell people?"

_Voila Yurei Uzumaki son of Kenji Uzumaki and some random Fire country woman. Oh may I pretty please have sanctuary because I heard one of my distant cousins is here. _Yurei dryly waved his hands. He henged into a red haired boy the exact shade of the Kyuubi's coat from that night.

"You want to fool the Hokage with that…" Kakashi face palmed. "Not even a fresh genin would believe that. Let me come up with the story you two idiots."

_Right. _Yurei muttered sheepishly.

"What about getting a new perspective on my taijutsu so I know what to improve." Naruto offered.

"That could work," Kakashi said thoughtfully, "At all costs you have to stop anyone from knowing he came from your head. Otherwise he'll get mistaken for the Kyuubi." His serious gaze bored into them both.

"Kurama sensei." Naruto sighed. "Not Kyuubi."

"I'll call him Kurama when he calls me Kakashi." Kakashi muttered back. "Speaking of which I don't trust that fox."

Yurei and Naruto exchanged glances. "He is a bit difficult." Naruto allowed.

Yurei snorted. _Try very._

A hawk circled overhead in lazy circles shrieking before taking off. Everyone's gazes flickered up.

"Is it that time already?" Kakashi asked in disbelief, "I swear it's early."

"Chunin exams right?" Naruto said frowning, "This is when everything starts to go wrong."

_Ahh just kill who-ever is in your way and you'll be fine. _Yurei slung an arm over Naruto's shoulders who snorted.

"I can't go around killing every Sound shinobi I can see."

_Hmm good point. You're nowhere near that level._

"Don't you mean 'we'? We are nowhere near that level…you're cheerful now."

Yurei waved a hand. _Well I have a body again! I can live my life…sort of._

"Boys." Cut in an amused Kakashi, "Let's go pick the rest of the team and then you're dismissed for the day. Prepare for the invasion and tell me details later, I need to go and be an hour late to the meeting."

_Let Aniki go get them. I have someone I want to meet. _Yurei disagreed. _I'd rather not let the Hokage have any more glimpses of me than necessary._

"Change that hair back Baka." Naruto said exasperated, "You'll give everyone a heart attack from seeing me with Kurama's hair colour."

Yurei nodded and ran off. Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"Are you going to nominate us for the Chunin exams sensei?"

Kakashi snapped his book closed, "This is when Orochimaru invades and gives Sasuke his cursed seal isn't it?"

"Yes…if we enter that forest Orochimaru will hunt us down. I can't stop it, he's miles ahead in skill."

Kakashi smirked under his mask, "Well then there is one solution. I'll let you know as soon as I prepare for it. Ja ne Naruto." Kakashi flickered out, Naruto coughed in the resulting smoke. That infuriating man! Couldn't he ever share all his ideas for once?

….

Yurei ran lightly down vending streets in the heart of Konoha. He breathed in the familiar air and smiled broadly at the feeling of wind speeding past him. The disapproving glares didn't even faze him one bit!

"Slow down brat. You look far too cheerful for my eyes." A lazy voice mumbled from the shade. Yurei skidded to a halt next to Shikamaru.

_Shika. _He smiled faintly. Naruto's memories of Shikamaru had shown him to be a very good friend…insanely smart but loyal. _It's very good to see you._

Shikamaru's eyes flicked to him lazy and hooded. "I would say it's good to meet you too but you disturbed my relaxation time. How did you recognise me?"

Yurei squatted next to an unrecognisable Shikamaru. Heavy make-up had transformed his face into a mass of wrinkles and sagging skin. His mouth was a gash in the face and he was draped in a musty shawl to hide his shinobi outfit. In all he looked like any other homeless beggar.

_Why are you blowing your cover like this?_ He asked curiously. _Why are you even like this? Your eyes are the same…wear contacts or henge next time._

Shikamaru huffed and shifted slightly, "Well your observational skills have improved." He moaned, "As for what I'm doing here? Maa sensei told us to go make a thousand yen each without people knowing who we were and being suspicious." He rattled the bucket. "Got 560 yen already and I didn't even have to move. Best plan ever."

Yurei snorted. _Who did the make up for you? Why not use a henge?_

"Any shinobi worth a damn can detect a henge and haul me off and that's troublesome." Shikamaru yawned, "Make up is far more discreet. Ino and Choji did it actually, I fell asleep while they were discussing shades and tones and brushes."

_Choji can apply makeup? _Yurei asked incredulously.

"Apparently decorating cakes seriously helps with makeup skills." Shika shrugged. "Where are you going?"

_I'm going to look for the foreign shinobi._

Shika shot him a curious look.

_Chunin exams coming up._

Shika pursed his lips. "It's at least one and a half weeks too early. Dad's usually run off his feet during the actual exams…as far as I know he's playing Shogi against my cousins."

_Oh. _Yurei frowned. _That is…frustrating._

Shikamaru flicked a calculating look at Yurei from the corner of his eye. "You've changed Naruto."

_I hope you mean the clothes._

"Like you're taking things more seriously…so troublesome. Go away…you're going to blow my cover if people see a genin chatting with a beggar."

Yurei chuckled and brushed his knees off as he stood up. _See you around Shika._

Shika hummed and stilled as he had instantly fallen asleep. Yurei shook his head. What a guy. But this was frustrating…if it was too early for the Chunin exams what on earth was that hawk for? They were only used to summon all the Jonin.

…

Kakashi leapt through the Hokage's window to perch on the sill. Three ANBU blurred to meet him but their tantos struck sparks off the cement as Kakashi reappeared behind his confused genin with hands on both their heads.

"Maa have you been behaving for the Hokage brats?"

"Kakashi…" Hiruzen sighed, "Stand down ANBU. We have a door for a reason Jonin. I did not install it to look pretty."

"But it does such a good job." Kakashi returned innocently then straightened more seriously, "Jonin Kakashi Hatake reporting sir."

"Hmm. Genin dismissed." Hiruzen puffed on his pipe. "Kakashi straight to the meeting. No dilly dallying…I'll be along in a second."

"Hai." Came three voices.

"Is Naruto ok sensei?" Sakura whispered.

He patted her head to indicate yes. "If you see two Narutos running around don't pop them ok? I's quite important." He whispered back to them both who shot him looks but nodded. "You two are dismissed."

"Shall we check up on Naruto?" Sakura whispered to Sasuke after Kakashi had herded them to the reception and promptly disappeared on them again. Sasuke meanwhile was irritated. How many times was he going to panic over the dobe in a few days? How many times was he going to panic over Sakura getting killed in a fight? All the panicking wasn't good for his heart and he wanted to remain at full efficiency. Before he could reply they heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! Found you!"

"Naruto." Sasuke got out between gritted teeth and spun so that his punch met the dobe squarely in the cheek. "What were you thinking? Getting yourself in the hospital!"

"It wasn't my fault." Naruto got out rubbing his jaw. "Things just happened."

"What was wrong?" Sakura cut the chance for a fight in the bud.

"Chakra poisoning." Naruto said shortly lying between his teeth, "The outpost didn't have the necessary equipment to detect it."

"Will we have chakra poisoning?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"Na Ichibi's wind natured…so it only affected me. What's the plan?"

"We find that chunin then we go to the Uchiha compound." Sasuke bit out. Everyone stared at him. "What!" He snapped turning around.

No one said anything. No one had been in the Uchiha compound since the massacre except Sasuke…for him to offer was a big honour. For him to order was another thing entirely. Even Sakura hadn't dreamed about setting foot in that compound.

"Okay chunin." Said Sakura snapping out of it. Naruto kept staring. This was proof Team 7 had a chance in staying together. Sasuke hadn't even hinted at going to the compound in the other timeline…a smile stole across his face stealthily. _He wasn't going to mess this up!_

"Okay mission assigner chunin…" Naruto thought. "We could ask Iruka sensei?"

Sakura shook her head, "I peeked into the room as we were walking out. Sensei is gone…most likely to catch the prankster."

"Prankster?" Naruto asked curiosity piqued. He thought he had a good idea who it was.

"Yes, some kid snuck in ramen powder packets in the hot baths so now everyone smells like ramen." Naruto smiled half proudly and half forcefully. So the little brat was framing Naruto was he? He would pay.

Sakura and Sasuke had by silent agreement agreed not to tell Naruto about the village. It would devastate him judging by his reaction when Kakashi was prepared to abandon the villagers.

"I have a plan." Sasuke announced suddenly.

"What is it?" Sakura asked as Sasuke grabbed both of them and dragged them off to the side.

"We are going to make up a fake D rank and see who sorts it." He announced, "Sakura you're the one with the most practise at being a civilian and your chakra levels are low. You'll be the civilian. Tell me you have actual make up in that make up poison box of yours?"

"Of course." Sakura said indignantly.

"Good, do something about your hair. Naruto make her some stilts and a long dress to cover them. I hope you have good balance. Also Naruto make a clone with very little chakra into a small fly so it can go on her shoulder and land on the one ranking it. I'll have my Sharingan on to track its chakra and identify the chunin. Everybody understand?"

"Hai."

"Hai!"

Sakura ducked into the women's bathroom and expertly began applying make up to make herself seem older. It wasn't just flower arranging in kunoichi lessons after all! Faint lines were drawn in strategic places and by the end of it she looked like a mature woman in her late twenties. She ripped off the bottom of one of her dresses from her backpack to create a bandanna and that hid her pink hair quite well. Eyeliner over her eyebrows felt disgusting but it too did the job.

"Sakura! Catch!" Naruto tossed her the stilts and the long dress. She kicked off her shoes to Naruto and her team mates helped her onto the stilts where she wobbled around before steadying herself.

"We had practice in high heels." She explained to the impressed boys." Next came the long dress. Naruto had done it brilliantly. It just touched the floor and she wouldn't trip over it when walking.

"Put your hands together so the long sleeves hide how short they are." Naruto advised. Sakura did just that and looked in the mirror. A pretty woman in the late twenties stared back.

"Your clones and henge are really useful." She said to Naruto admiringly.

"Great. Now don't fall or sit down." Sasuke pushed her lightly to get her moving from the mirror where she was admiring her work. "Naruto the bug."

A small insect flew off Naruto's head band and landed somewhere in Sakura's folds of cloth.

"What's the D rank?" She hissed, "My name?"

"Make it a shopping list." Sasuke told her. "Anything…garlic, onions…"

"Name can be Tuya…Ichishi." Naruto shrugged. "Now go."

Sakura swept out head high.

"Excuse me." She called out to a passing shinobi in a voice slightly deeper than her own, "Where can I submit a mission request?"

The shinobi adjusted the sword on his back, "This way ma'am. I'll take you there."

Ma'am! Sakura fumed inside. She did not look old enough for a ma'am but it was good her disguise had worked. The shinobi knocked on a door and motioned for her to go in. Swallowing she did just that. What if he had seen through her and this was a trap?

She nearly stumbled over a carpet edge but caught herself by the wall. Oh Kami, that was close.  
"Ma'am." An Akimichi chunin nodded at her from behind a desk. "You have a mission?"

"Ah yes."

The Chunin nodded and pulled out a blank scroll. "Name?"

"Tuya Ichishi."

"Address?"

Sakura felt her heart lurch, "30 Heartbleed Road." She gave her own so the mission wouldn't raise flags with a false address.

"Details?"

"A shopping for me." She rattled off her daily grocery list and the Chunin took it all down.

"That is a D rank ma'am. Payment is 1000 yen and should be paid beforehand." She nodded and forked over some money she had lying around. That was her pocket money gone.

"You sort all the missions you get?" She asked in vague interest. "You must be very good at what you do. My niece is a shinobi." She added to add realism.

"Yes…just me." He scribbled furiously, "Had a partner once but he took a mission."

"Oh is the work piling up?" She faked a wince. Her heart pounded, was it the other person who sorted their mission?

He smiled at her, "Not yet, these past few weeks it's been relatively simple to do."

Success. It was him. She couldn't repress a smile. She inclined her head, "Thank you. I'll take my leave."

He nodded, "The things will be delivered tomorrow. We'll get a genin team on it."

Ah. If Team 10 got it they'd realise Tuya was a fake as Ino would recognise the house.

"Is it possible to book a team?" She asked lightly.

He looked surprised, "Yes…did you have anyone in mind?"

"Team 7? Are they free? Only they did a fantastic job on my friend's garden." Well she should know…they spent ages in that garden.

"Erm depends on their sensei but yes I'll note it." She nodded and walked out wary of the carpet edge.

She closed the door with a snap smiling faintly.

"That was either a very impressive performance or a very stupid chunin." A voice drawled behind her. She got the shock of her life as her heart lurched. She turned quickly to see the masked Sound Nin from earlier leaning against the wall.

"Who are you?" She said sharply, "Surprising people is not polite Master Shinobi."

He cocked his head, "I can see right through that disguise you do realise?" She shot a look at his white eye quickly, "Not in that way." He added spotting her gaze.

Sakura scowled, "What gave it away?" The masked man was lean and gave off a very dangerous vibe but she was safe in her own village… She thought.

"I can hear your heart little girl." He spoke in a bored tone, "Fluttering like a caged bird. And your proportions are off. That chunin was just too polite to stare at you properly. If you are going to infiltrate at least do it properly next time." He glowered at her. "Move on. You've wasted my time enough."

She gritted her teeth, if he knew then he had leverage on her and she didn't like it. His eye told her he knew what she was thinking and he smiled sharply under the bandages.

"Is there a problem girl?"

"No." She bit out and walked away quickly so she could get rid of his penetrating gaze on her back.

She spotted her team mates in the reception and made for the bathroom where she quickly doused her face with water and popped the Naruto clones.

Naruto banged on the door. "Ready Sakura?"

She yanked the door open, "Yeah. Did Sasuke get the Chunin? I can recognise him again."

"I got him." Sasuke had a pleased glint in his blood red eye. "But question is there was another chakra by the room and you bumped into that chakra." He frowned quizzically at her.

"The Sound jonin from earlier." She admitted, "He saw through me instantly, told me how I went wrong and dismissed me…he's dangerous."

"Damn." Naruto whistled, "But he didn't say anything about telling anyone?"

"He didn't say anything about not telling anyone." She countered.

"It doesn't matter. We're not doing anything wrong." Sasuke told them calmly, "He has no worthwhile leverage."

"So what now?" Sakura asked, "We know who the Chunin is…"

"Prank his house so he doesn't know who did it." Naruto commented idly.

"Kill his whole family and make him relive it." Sasuke commented just as casually.

Sakura and Naruto both dropped their heads in their hands.

"…Joking."

"Right Naruto's idea seems the best."

"I have a way to find out his name and address." Naruto said cheerfully.

"It is a bit disturbing you're so good at this." Sakura told Naruto. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What's the plan?"

"To the academy." Naruto grinned. "We'll need to sneak in though. Iruka sensei won't be too happy to see us…well me, he says we have a tendency to destroy his classes' attentions."

"The team photos." Sasuke said slowly, "That isn't a bad idea."

"I can recognise him as a child." Sakura said, "He was an Akimichi, I can recognise his tattoos."

Naruto grinned wolfishly, "I also know how to sneak in. Hah! Iruka sensei will never sense this! Come on! Hurry! We need to find that prankster…" He took off running, weaving between the idle shinobi who shifted slightly to let him pass.

Sasuke and Sakura followed him, not quite sure what Naruto was thinking, but having no choice but to trust him they followed anyway.

…

"How long has it been since Iruka sensei left to find the prankster?" Naruto yelled as they skidded around a corner.

"About an hour!"

A beggar shifted after Team 7 had sprinted past. Why did Naruto always wake him up? Grumbling Shikamaru went back to sleep.

"Right we might be in time!"

"Who are we looking for?" Sasuke roared.

"Konohamaru!"

"The Hokage's grandson?" Sasuke cried totally bewildered. "He's a prankster?!"

"Yup! He's my apprentice."

"Oh Kami." They heard Sakura groan.

"I taught him the quick ways to get around and I'm sure he's using them. One more thing about him…he doesn't work alone. He's got two friends, Moegi and Udon? I think?" Naruto explained, "If we can get to them first before Iruka sensei…"

"We can disguise ourselves as them..." Sasuke started.

"And Iruka sensei will take us to the Academy himself!" Sakura finished. "Not bad Naruto!"

"The only problem will be finding him." Naruto concluded. But it seemed Fate was on their side because as soon as he said that two Chunin crash landed in front of them cracking the concrete in a pillar of dust making them all trip and choke.

"Eww they're bleeding from the nose." Sakura picked herself up.

"Which way did they come from?" Naruto asked.

"Going from the parabola…" Sasuke muttered under his breath, "About 300m in that direction." He pointed and all of them took off in a flash.

They came to a halt panting where the trail of blood stopped.

"Is he here?"

"Boss?" A younger voice asked.

Naruto spun around smiling, "Konohamaru brilliant prank."

The boy grinned back mischievously. "Thanks Nii-san, we tried to think like you."

"Although…" Naruto cuffed him on the head, "If you threw away all the ramen just for the packets you're in trouble."

"No! We gave them to Ichiraku's!" Konohamaru spoke quickly.

"Good boy." Naruto smiled. "Meet my team, Sakura and Sasuke." Being around the boy brought out his playful side, it was refreshing once in a while.

"She your…" He wiggled his finger, "Boss?"

"Ah no. Just team mates, rather like you and Moegi. Where are they anyway?" He changed the subject hastily remembering what had happened last time.

"Ah she's too ugly to be with you, Boss." The boy said loyally.

"What did you say!?" shrieked Sakura. Sasuke stepped in her path quickly, "How would you like to miss school Konohamaru?" He asked quietly.

The boy shrugged, "Would love to. But Sensei is like a blood hound."

Naruto smiled, "Get the other two here. We have a plan."

"Hey! Get out here! Boss is here!" The boy yelled. Another girl and boy jumped out of adjacent windows.

"Moegi, Udon." Naruto greeted cheerfully, "Mind very much if we henge as you and you henge as us?"

Udon blinked, "Why would you want to do that? Hi Boss."

Moegi at the same time, "Why would we mind Boss?"

Naruto whispered as if giving away a big secret, "A huge prank on Sensei. So will you help?"

"Yes!" Came the answer.

"Double layer the henge with paint after the first henge." Sasuke said, "It'll be our excuse for maintaining the henge…otherwise he'll get suspicious."

"Got any paint you three?" Naruto asked. Udon handed over a small tin.

"Can they henge?" Sakura asked frowning, "I think they were learning how to henge a week ago and it takes longer than a week to learn."

"Don't worry Boss Lady-friend." Konohamaru grinned, "We're _very good _at henge."

"Henge!" came six voices. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves facing their exact copies.

"Not bad." Allowed Sasuke before he got paint splattered on him by Naruto. Naruto hit Sakura and himself before handing the tin back.

"Henge!" went Team 7 and they looked spotless.

"Thanks boss!" Moegi yelled as the pseudo team 7 escaped through an alleyway.

"Play with us soon!" went Konohamaru. Udon was too far away to hear.

Naruto paced as Konohamaru. "Now we need to recreate a chase until Iruka sensei catches us. Be careful not to go beyond mid genin level." With a last look team 7 split. Naruto ran down a parallel road jumping over obstacles. Sasuke spun under low hanging beams and changed directions rapidly zooming through crowds. Sakura went up. She swung herself up and ran along roof edges jumping from roof top to roof top feeling the wind whiz past her. All of them scanning carefully for any sign of Iruka.

Sasuke spotted Iruka first, leaping from trees in a zig-zag fashion until the Chunin had caught up to a mildly impressed Sasuke. Iruka leapt off and landed expertly in front of Sasuke who had to jump over the leg which shot out to trip him. Gritting his teeth Sasuke stopped himself from moving out of the way when Iruka's hand lashed out to catch him by the collar in mid-air. Iruka shook him slightly.

"You three get worse every time I swear." He muttered before flickering off with Sasuke.

…..

Sakura meanwhile had almost crashed into a purple haired ANBU. She yelped and back away but the ANBU blurred and reappeared behind her and gripped her by the neck.

"Shouldn't you be in the academy?" Came a cold clipped voice. Sakura squeaked out a yes acting how she thought Moegi would act when facing an ANBU. Then leaves spun around her as the ANBU wasted no time in flickering to the Academy and handing her to an amused Iruka sensei with Sasuke in his other hand.

"Found one of your students playing truant sensei."

Iruka took her by the collar too, "This is what happens when you skip Moegi chan." He said half smiling, "You get caught by ANBU."

…..

Ebisu flipped over Naruto cutting off his escape.

"Did you think I would not find you Honourable Grandson?" He chided. Well no, he had been counting on it actually.

"Come along quietly or it's triple practise for you today." The older Nin threatened. Naruto knew Konohamaru would kill him if he was landed with extra work so Naruto nodded and let Ebisu flicker him to the Academy.

"Found him sensei." Ebisu called out to a very amused Iruka holding both Sakura and Sasuke above the ground.

"Ah thank you. Now Konohamaru in. And we'll talk about your punishments." Iruka's eyes gleamed dangerously.

…

After a blistering chewing out Iruka left the three of them to clean up the mess that Udon had made in order to distract everyone.

"This is insane. How can he make such a mess?" Sakura groaned sliding her mop over the ground.

"Forget that." Naruto called, "Give it to my bunshin. Come see the pictures." Sasuke had picked the lock and had taken out a huge pile of yearbooks with pictures of every single genin team.

"This might take a while." Naruto agreed, "But there's three of us."

….

Ten minutes later…nothing.

….

One hour later….nothing.

…

Two hours later.

"Him." Sakura said flatly stabbing at a picture, "Definitely him."

"Right he is a …Keikan Akimichi." Sasuke put the book down, "We have a name…now how do we find the house?" Naruto stood up wincing at the increased blood flow.

"Let's put these back and I'll tell." Together they carefully put everything back how they found it. Sasuke even relocked the lock using his pins.

"Right that's mostly clean." Sakura cast a critical look at the room as the bunshins dispelled themselves. "Let's go."

"Sensei! We're done." Naruto called. "Kami this brings back memories."

Iruka walked in hands in pockets, "Not bad you three." He smiled, "You can go now. Remember pop test tomorrow."

They wasted no time in getting out of there.

…..

"This is the Akimichi compound." Sasuke shrugged, "I come here every year once at least."

"That's nice of them."

"Yeah…"

A collection of cosy houses spread out before them with the wrought clan symbol on every one. Akimichis could be seen moving in the homes and the smell of food came from every one.

"If we ask where Keikan lives and later his house gets trapped…it's going to be incredibly obvious." Sakura pointed out. All three of them had dropped the henges after they left the Academy. Now they were crouching in trees over a seemingly empty side house.

Sasuke hummed, "Sakura did you spot a wedding ring on him? Think back." She tossed her head back. "No. There was no wedding ring."

"Ok…this might work. It relies on him not having a recognisable girl friend." Sasuke said slowly.

"Ahh Sakura don't kill me for this but I have a better idea on who to dress up as." Naruto said awkwardly.

Sakura sighed, "I'm going to have to put my make up on again won't I?"

…

Sakura stumbled on to the Akimichi property in her heels. She was going to bloody kill Naruto! She would rip him apart as soon as she finished this! Her make-up was smudged and it looked like she had been crying hard. If anyone looked at her now they would see a young woman in a long dress and very big heels. Taking the Sound Jonin's advice Naruto had after blushing made the dress to make her seem more proportional than before.

"Oh sweetie can I help you?" An Akimichi woman ran over, "What's the matter?"

Sakura pretended to cling on to the woman and sob even harder.

"Is *hic Kei-chan here *hic?" She was so washing her mouth out after this.

"Oh are you looking for Keikan? I'm sorry sweetie he's still at work." Sakura tried very hard to not burst into hysterical laughter and more into hysterical sobbing.

"What's wrong?" The Akimichi woman took her by the shoulders, "Did something happen? Did you get hurt by anyone?"

"*hic I just need *hic to see him!" Sakura wailed.

("She's good" Naruto hissed to Sasuke. "Very good." Sasuke whispered back.)

Time to start the hinting. Sakura placed one hand over her belly and the woman froze.

"Kami…" The Akimichi breathed. "You need to see the clan head."

Sakura froze. Crap. This wasn't in the plan.

("Ahhh. Can't believe I forgot that." Sasuke mumbled.)

"No! *hic Not doing anything without *hic Kei-chan!" She clutched at the woman, "Don't make me! *hic"

The woman pursed her lips, "I suppose I can show you where he lives. You have a key sweetie? And I'll need proof of your Konoha citizenship."

"*hic Silver Sheen *hic on the black pearl *hic lake." She gave the code every single civilian in Konoha had to know.

"Hell fire burns eternal in the dark." The woman finished far friendlier now, "You got a key? You're welcome to stay at mine until he comes home."

Sakura shook her head, "I'll let myself in *hic I need to go back soon…they'll be looking *hic for me."

"Oh sweetie, this way. As soon as you talked with him you need to go see the clan head, ok?" The woman gently led Sakura in the right direction.

A tearful Sakura nodded.

"What's your name sweetie?"

"He called me *hic Suki."

"That's a pretty name, I'm Hikari Akimichi."

Their voices trailed off.

"Success." Whispered Naruto.

"Let's just hope she doesn't wait to see Sakura open the door." Murmured Sasuke stealthily jumping down and sneaking under windows to follow the duo. "Thank Kami she wasn't a Jonin."

…..

Sakura stared at the house having persuaded the Akimichi to reluctantly leave. She wiped at her face…uggh now she was emotionally exhausted faking all that.

"That was brilliant." Naruto came out from behind a few bushes, "Didn't know you could do that."

"All kunoichis have make-up and acting lessons." Sakura whispered back. Sasuke nodded approvingly at her and looked at the lock.

"Are there any seals on it?"

"Yes." Sakura said grimly, "Too high a level for me to break. So I was thinking that." She pointed up to a smaller window. "Just a simple seal on that. I can break it easily."

"That is most likely a trap." Naruto whispered knowingly.

"Wait…are you telling me every time he comes home he has to undo all the seals?" Sasuke waved at the door, "There's no way he'll do that."

"Well no." Sakura admitted, "The seals are linked to the tumblers. If the tumblers aren't moved at the same time then the seals go off…I think. Which is tricky with lock picks."

"That's tricky even with a key!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Chakra lock." Sakura shrugged. Naruto froze…wait. No…it couldn't be that simple. He pulled off his backpack, rummaged in it for a small exploding tag and primed it. He shoved it in the key hole and pulled the other two back.

"That is the most inventive way I've heard of to get around a chakra lock." Sasuke blinked, "To shove an exploding tag in the key hole."

There was a muffled bang and the door swung open.

…..

They had fun in the house.

Naruto unscrewed nearly every single bolt and made sure to make them look secure. He sawed neatly through several chair legs so they would collapse when sat on. All the cushions had hunks of meat shoved inside from the pantry. Sasuke messed with the pipes, by mixing and matching screws and cogs he was able to do some very interesting things to the water works eg a tsunami when the toilet was flushed. Sakura was in the kitchen; swapping labels on spices, mixing tea, coffee and everything together, salt got poured in all the bottles of wine with her being careful to reseal them afterwards. Someone also shoved exploding tags inside the fluffy slippers.

"There." The three of them came together after doing their mischief. "That should teach him a lesson." Sasuke smirked.

"Now let's go before we're caught." Naruto looked out of the window. He was worried about Yurei and what trouble he had found.

"Sakura take off that makeup and get rid of the evidence you existed." Sasuke ordered. She nodded and dumped a bottle of water on her face and used a towel to wipe it off. Sasuke took the towel and promptly lit it on fire and threw it in the grate.

"We're done here." He announced, "Let's go team."

**Wow nearly all of you wanted to save them both. I was fully prepared to let one die but maybe that's just me being harsh. Reviews are taxes and I'm the queen so keep them coming ;) Love you all.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Naruto leant his head against the cool glass. The moisture dripped down his exposed forehead and ran tracks down his cheeks. The rain blurred his reflection in his apartment window as he peered out over the street. The two Sound nin and the other foreign shinobis were sparring in one of the fields, apparently a few of their water, wind and fire jutsus had combined to make one of the most sudden storms in recent years. The foreign nin had trickled in over the past week; now that he was actively looking for them, it was far easier for Naruto to spot them.

This was the day Kakashi would nominate them for the chunin exams. It had only been a month and already things were going wrong. Well if he could get to Gaara beforehand… but Orochimaru was a major problem. Could he risk even going into Training ground 44? If he didn't then the future would change immensely. Well that was good and bad at the same time, he mused. Kakashi still hadn't told him his plan for the exams, he had been too happy this past week too hmm. He frowned.

Yurei had disappeared. Literally. He had gone off a week ago and hadn't come back. Kakashi had spent several days chasing up whispers and dust in all the corners of Konoha but he just wasn't anywhere to be found. This was bad. Yurei knew everything Naruto did, including defences of Konoha, vital key points in time and more…if he had been taken or went willingly (neither of them seriously believed this) then they and Konoha had a serious leak in their security.

Kakashi after their little mission had gone off the deep end of paranoia. After their little prank on Keikan they had intended to go to the Uchiha clan compound but Kakashi had somehow managed to kidnap all of them on their way and lock them in his apartment while he hunted down Yurei. When it appeared that Yurei had gone, Kakashi hadn't even allowed them to set one foot out of the compound until a day ago.

"_Why can't we leave?" Sasuke grunted, "This is wasting time. We could be training to get stronger."_

_Kakashi stretched out on his couch, "Assassins." He counted off on his fingers, "Recuperating time so you lot don't go insane, you lot can't be trusted on your own, did I say assassins already?" He leaned forward and poked Sasuke in the chest. Sasuke stumbled back from the force in that poke. "You didn't fall over, you're strong enough for now. Little steps eh Sasuke."_

"_Why are we not trusted?" Sakura called from her perch. _

_He looked at her flatly, "The Akimichi clan caused uproar a few days ago in the red light district looking for the woman one of their chunin impregnated. The ANBU had to intervene to get all the civilians out of the way and the search is still going on. However he claims he never went to the district and his house was broken into in the same day by some pranksters…it wasn't hard to put the dots together. It's the latest gossip of the village." His eye glittered with humour though at his student's antics._

_She blushed and looked away. Naruto meanwhile was exploring Kakashi's flat and not paying attention to any of them. He had never been in there before…it was very sparsely decorated and the number of traps boggled all of them witless._

"_You did realise there was a complaints desk at the back of the office right?" Kakashi's mouth twisted in amusement. "There was no need to make that man's life hell from his clan."_

"_Depending on some chunin who didn't know what we went through?" Naruto called incredulously, "Why on earth would we do that?"_

_Kakashi nodded approvingly._

"_Who would send assassins into the heart of Konoha to get to us?" Sasuke interjected. _

"_Well…anyone who's terrified of me teaching some brats, anyone who wants to take you out now before you become too big a threat. Make no mistake, while there might be no survivors to spread stories on what happened…it is still likely that someone saw the disturbance. You're all staying in here until I'm reasonably sure any assassins will be killed violently by the village guard."_

_Sasuke stared at him then fell back into a seat._

"_Cheer up Sasuke." Kakashi said cheerfully, he held up a pack of cards. "I'll teach all of you some games."_

_Sasuke shot him a withering look and shoved his hands in his pockets._

Naruto's lips twitched. Time to take the world on head first. Like always.

…..

"Keep an eye on him operative. Orders from the top." A bored tone interrupted her silence.

She glanced sideways and nodded once, "As he commands."

…

The man rolled the wickedly sharp rod between long fingers.

"They say insanity is like flipping a switch." He whispered, "That doubts, fears and lies pile up in mountains…until it all comes tumbling down. Do you fear your mind breaking? Like brittle glass, I will snap it and scatter all the pieces to the four winds." He knelt to the spread-eagled man impaled on the floor half unconscious. "Did I ever tell you I disagreed with those idiots? Insanity isn't a switch…it's a damn ocean. You think you're safe skirting in the shallow end then suddenly a current sweeps you out and you drown choking… Are you terrified? To know parts of your mind will twist beyond recognition? Will you recognise your own thoughts when I'm done? You'll be an animal coated in human skin…and doesn't that just fill you with pure horror?" He brushed back the man's sweat soaked hair and lightly pressed the tip under the bulge of his eye. It dilated and moved around frantically under the point. "I suppose even animals need names. Yours was a name given in love, you threw it away so I will give you a new one… _Break for me Inu-kun._"

The newly named Inu screamed in mind shattering agony as the rod slid easily through his eye and destroyed his optic nerve.

"I wonder…can you heal even your mind?" The man knelt in fascination to view his specimen. "We all lust for one thing Inu-kun. I lust for knowledge, every kind in the universe. I would rip it apart to work out how it worked and build my new world out of its corpse." He smiled up at the ceiling, "I know exactly what you lust for and believe me when I say it is just a dream."

…

The younger members of Team 7 loitered under a dimly glowing stall as the rain created solid sheets between them and the world.

"We're finally out and we're stuck under a stall." Sakura sighed. "I feel so small. This…caused by shinobi sparring. The total disruption of the weather patterns…You think we'll be that powerful one day?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, "We'll look upon this level as nothing more than a warm up when we're older." He smirked in a fine mood. The rain always cheered him up.

Naruto grinned at her, "Yeah, you can always seal an ocean and make your own tempest on land if things don't go your way."

She laughed.

"Show us something you learned from stealing sensei's fuinjutsu scrolls." Naruto leant forward interested.

"Oh come on, he let me steal them." But she obeyed. Ink was taken from one pocket while she bit her palm to release blood. She let the blood drip into the black ink until she was satisfied then dipped her fingers in it. Black streaks marked her fingers with deep red undertones shifting in the light. With ninja speed she flicked her fingers, droplets of black and red splattered the opposite wall…only they weren't splatters any more. Kunai the size of their fingernails were embedded in the wall, each sunk deep in the wood.

Sasuke and Naruto started in their seats, "Array less fuinjutsu?!"

She shook her head showing them her fingers. Blood and ink coated them but they coalesced into patterns on her finger tips…grooves in her skin, like she had carved them in herself.

"It was a collection of notes by the Yondaime." She explained, "He was theorising about combat fuinjutsu and using seals permanently on the body. Using this a wielder can do incredible things in their specialty but they can't do much outside their field as the permanent seals would interfere." She held up her hand, "I've lost all ability to do non blood sealing with my right hand…It was a sacrifice worth the benefits."

"_Sakura. You'll break your hand if you punch that wood anymore." Kakashi stepped into the room she had hidden herself in. She didn't relax from her stance and carried on punching the wood as hard as she could, as fast as she could. He caught her hand by the wrist before the bone of her knuckles broke. "Maa this drive is unusual for you."_

"_I'm useless in a fight." Sakura said bluntly, "I want to be stronger."_

_Kakashi blinked, "Even Sasuke listened to me when I said take it easy for a few days."_

"_I've been doing nothing but taking it easy." She scoffed. "Do you know how many people realise Team 7 has a kunoichi? All they see is the boys and I am sick of it." She aimed a weak punch at the wood and Kakashi pulled her away before it connected._

"_In the fight I ran for help." She spoke suddenly. "I will do that in every fight we get into unless I get stronger. I don't want to be useless sensei, I see Naruto get up again and again every time someone hurls cold looks at him. I see Sasuke glare his way through everything and I want a pillar of strength too. Remember you said I didn't have convictions…well I want them now. A code to live my life by so I won't get this awful taste in my mouth when I look at them."_

_Kakashi was quiet for a moment. It seemed like Naruto's presence was already changing things; for better and for worse. He ruffled her hair fondly. She was growing up._

"_The pillar you bound yourself to before was Sasuke." He spoke, "What will happen to the chains binding you to him?"_

_She stared at him unsure. She wanted to get stronger but didn't want to let go of Sasuke at the same time. Kakashi sighed mentally, what he was going to do was risky and most of the kunoichis would kill him for it. He knelt to her level._

"_Use him as a ladder Sakura. Measure yourself against him. Fight with him. Challenge him. He'll notice you if you strive to reach his level. I can't do anything about him being in the centre of your world but I can make it a powerful force of motivation. Get stronger for his sake. Protect his back."_

_This had a very high risk of the girl becoming too attached to the boy and going insane if he died or he left her. But she would get stronger…he hoped he made the right decision._

"_Stronger for his sake." She whispered._

"_Come Sakura. Sasuke has his Sharingan. Naruto has his immense chakra. I have something perfect for you." He held out his hand and she took it determined._

"At all?" Naruto said aghast, "You need both hands to do most sealings."

"Yeah." She huffed, "My sealing ability will have been decimated but my combat ability has increased. I can now protect your backs in a fight." Her eyes burned a sickly green in the light.

"What can you do now? With that new ability." Sasuke asked.

"The seals on my finger-tips mean that with a touch I can manipulate ink and blood into whatever I like." She stretched, "I'm still limited to small projectiles at the minute though."

"Is that what the strange noises were at night?"

"Yeah."

Naruto hugged her, "That's really brave Sakura. To give up most of your ability just to get stronger to protect us better." Sakura seemed to have really matured unlike last time. He could never imagine old Sakura doing a big decision like this. Sasuke looked away but the slight smile told her everything. She nearly glowed but squashed it down.

She smiled as Naruto hugged her. They didn't need to know the consequences of that technique.

…

Kakashi lounged in the Hokage's office with the other Jonin.

"Kakashi." Asuma greeted, "You gonna enter your brats?" He jerked his head at his father.

"Maybe." He agreed, "Maybe not. You?"

Asuma rolled his eyes, "Goddamn yes."

"They're ready?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not. I'm hoping this'll get them to get off their asses and make them realise how hard they have to work." Asuma dragged on his cigarette. "They'll get knocked out in the second stage tops."

"Shock teaching." Kakashi drawled amused. "Nice. Tried it on my kids…works pretty well actually."

"Honestly no one thought you would actually teach Cyclops." Asuma blew out smoke, "We all thought you'd let the kids flounder with some basics and let them grow into their power themselves."

"Power gained without instruction is the best power." Kakashi recited, "Anyway I can't. I let this team do as they like and they'll completely shatter."

Asuma chuckled, "It's always those kind of teams who either become spectacular or catastrophic."

"Tell me about it." Kakashi chuckled.

"Cyclops." Ibiki strode over. "Heard your brats met mine."

"Ah yes." Kakashi smirked, "You have a good team."

Ibiki snorted, "They're too slow, too stupid and far too naïve."

"Genin in other words." Kurenai's voice wickedly added.

All the shinobi shared a laugh before sobering.

"Did you hear?" Ibiki growled, "It's official. We're allied with Sound."

"Sound." Asuma mused, "I've heard rumours about that place."

"We all have." Kurenai added grimly. "We have to watch out for them in the exams. Who knows if they're bluffing or genuine?"

"Well new villages do take protection of bigger villages in return for being allies." Ibiki played devil's advocate. "But I don't think this is the case here."

Kakashi nodded slowly, "Sound has no intention of remaining a thrall to Konoha. They want to be a power in their own right. They have the shinobi for it too."

"Hosho from mist, Kaguya from mist, Nishiki from Rock, Kokenya from Suna…they're all famous names." Kurenai mused.

"Drawn in by promises of power and blood." Muttered Asuma darkly. "They're no fools to fall for charlatan tricks."

"Which means their leader is a truly frightening fellow."

"Gai." They nodded to the eccentric Jonin.

"Let us get in line fellow Jonin. You are the ones who will report first." He said cheerfully.

"He's right." Complained Asuma as he cricked his neck. "Let's go guys."

….

"Where is he?" Sasuke bit out. "He told us to meet him two hours ago!"

"Then we have another hour left." Naruto spoke tiredly, "I don't know why I bother coming on time anymore."

….

"Now…first we'll hear from those who are watching over the new genin." The Hokage steepled his fingers. "Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Ibiki…are there any genin you would like to enter into this chunin exams? I don't have to tell you but after a genin has properly completed 8 missions they may take the test if nominated by their sensei. Now starting with Kakashi."

"With all respect Hokage, I would like to go last."

"Very well, Kurenai?"

Kurenai made the half ram sign, "The Kurenai led team 8; Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba…under the name of Kurenai Yuhi I nominate them to take the Chunin exams."

Asuma made the half ram sign, "The Asuma led team 10; Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji…under the name of Asuma Sarutobi the same as to my left."

Ibiki made the half ram sign, "The Ibiki led team 5; Hoshino Yamara, Ryusaki Shishui and Miyake Kigura…under the name of Ibiki Morino the same as to my left."

Kakashi made the half ram sign, "The Kakashi led team 7; Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke…under the name of Kakashi Hatake I do not nominate them for the chunin exams…but can I have 3 forms anyway?"

Someone stifled a chuckle in the crowd.

"Lord Hokage can I have a word!?" Iruka burst out. "I taught all of them. They're not ready! The exams will crush them!"

Ibiki turned to the chunin, "Sensei, the moment they put on those headbands they stopped being your students and became our soldiers instead."

Iruka gritted his teeth but fell back accepting the reprimand.

"Wait Iruka is right." Gai stepped forward, "They're rookies. Let them mature a bit more first…the way you're handling them will break them. My team waited a year to get stronger."

"Perhaps the rookies need a little breaking so we can fit them together better." Kurenai spoke lightly but there was an edge in her words.

"Right that's enough…all other jonin senseis can submit their teams now." The Hokage announced as the rookie team senseis stepped back.

"What are you doing?" Asuma hissed to Kakashi. "Why do you want forms if you're not going to enter your kids?"

Kakashi looked affronted, "I said I wouldn't nominate my kids, I never said they wouldn't participate."

…

Sakura looked at her shadow, "It's been three hours…"

"What kind of training can we do in this weather?" Sasuke mused, "Water walking? Low visibility combat?"

"More like practising penmanship." Their sensei leapt onto the unoccupied stool between them.

"Yo. Been behaving? I got caught up in a Jonin meeting about your promotions."

They started to yell at him about the lie but froze half way and just stared at him.

"Already?" Squeaked Sakura.

"Well no, you have to pass an exam first." Kakashi considered. He held up three pieces of paper, "These are the nomination slips."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. What was the man doing?! Why even tell them about the exam? Kakashi's eye glittered in the dim light. He had a plan alright…

"The choice to take the exam is still up to you." He continued smoothly, "Unfortunately the deadline is in ten minutes so you have to hurry if you want to do it. I was a little late in picking these up." His eye crinkled.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Will there be strong guys in the exams?"

"Oh very." Kakashi reassured him.

"Could we die?" Sakura asked frowning.

"Yes?"

Sasuke lowered his head. Finally he could test himself against others…and see how he could improve to become the strongest. "I will take the exams."

Sakura bit her lip. She had a made a vow to become strong and the exams sounded like a perfect chance. Exams were always her forte after all. "I will take the exams."

Naruto stared at the forms with a cool gaze. There was no way he was letting either of them near Orochimaru. "I will not take the exams. Sorry guys."

Kakashi cocked his head, "Okay…bit of information for you guys. The exam's taken in groups of three only. Next time then eh?"

Sasuke whipped to face Naruto, "Are you scared?! I never thought you would back down from a challenge dobe!" He gritted his teeth, his chance to measure his strength was gone due to him!

Sakura wasn't that concerned. "We'll take it next time then Sasuke. When we're stronger." She shrugged. She too however hadn't expected Naruto to back down in the face of a challenge.

"Don't you want a promotion?" Sasuke asked witheringly.

"Of course I do." Naruto said affronted, "I just don't think being genin for about 5 weeks is enough to take on genin who have years of training and experience under their belt. Do you?"

"We can put up a damn good show." Sasuke hissed, "We can fight and get stronger…you don't run away from things!"

"That's enough, that's enough." Kakashi interjected hastily. "If all of you really want to get stronger we'll go pick up a mission. What do you think Sakura?"

"Erm yeah?"

Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other before nodding reluctantly.

…

Team 7 dripped water all over the mission room carpet. Kakashi was perfectly dry of course but his team looked like wet bedraggled rats. All the higher nin had to stifle chuckles at the sight and settled for amused smirks.

"So Team 7, a nice D rank for you? What about doing some shopping? Hmm I suppose you can't weed in this weather…shovelling mud?" Why was the old man grinning like that?

Kakashi didn't look up from his book, "Hmm no, I think we'll go for a nice juicy B rank this time. Got any spare?"

What.

All of his genin temporarily lost their speech, just staring at Kakashi with their jaws on the ground. They had barely survived a C rank…and now he wanted them to go on a B rank!? _Was the man absolutely insane?_

"What? Are you insane, we can't handle a B rank!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura nodded dumbly, B ranks were the assassinations and infiltrations. Oh Kami. Sasuke just kept checking for genjutsu every 5 seconds, they weren't ready and he didn't believe Kakashi would be as stupid as not to realise that.

"Of course you can." Kakashi said dismissively, "In fact I have utmost faith in you. Hokage make it a trio only mission."

Naruto's eyes widened in horror. Kakashi had lost it. Being cooped up with them for a week had caused him to absolutely lose it. Sakura made a high keen of horror and hid her face. Sasuke too was now staring at Kakashi, did the man want to kill them that much? To do a B rank with a Jonin sensei was bad enough, to do it without was plain suicide!

"Hmm." The Hokage puffed on his pipe, "Yes I do have one free. It is an infiltration deception mission…I'll put Team 7 down for it."

"Can I have a solo A too?" Kakashi said hopefully. "I want to stretch my legs."

"Don't leave us!" Sakura spoke in horror. Sasuke remembered people from his family returning after B ranks…and they had been fully qualified chunin!

"Genin can't take B ranks." He said sharply, "Maximum is C isn't it?" Kakashi rapped him with the spine of his book.

"That's more of a guideline than anything Sasuke."

"Yes…I have a solo A rank free too." The Hokage smiled motioning for the chunin to pass them two scrolls. Where was Iruka sensei? He wouldn't have stood for this!

Kakashi accepted them both and tossed one to Naruto who caught it dumbly.

"You're team leader." He said cheerfully, "Try not to die, you'll make me look bad. Excuse me I have to prepare for mine. Ja ne." He cheekily shunshinned out waving.

Kakashi's plan to save them from Orochimaru was to kill them using a B rank? He was never letting his sensei make a plan for him _ever again_.

"Open it dobe." Sasuke told him wearily. Naruto unrolled it like it was an artefact of mass destruction. They leant in to read it.

**MISSION RANKING:** B

**MISSION TYPE:** SABOTAGE, INFILTRATION, DECEPTION

**MISSION LOCATION: **KONOHA

"Wait a B rank in Konoha?" Sasuke said incredulously, "Only D ranks are in the city." Naruto had ice growing in his stomach at the next statement.

**MISSION DETAILS: **YOU WILL PRETEND TO BE A TEAM IN THE CHUNIN EXAMS WITH THE PURPOSE OF SABOTAGING OTHER TEAMS AND REDUCING COMPETITION. DURING THE FIRST STAGE YOU WILL PROVIDE INCORRECT ANSWERS, TRICK PEOPLE INTO BLATANLTLY SPYING AND AT THE END YOU WILL GIVE UP TO ADD REALISM TO THE EXAM.

Three pieces of paper fluttered to the floor in front of the stunned genin.

That…that…utterly dastardly brilliant man. Using them to make the Chunin exams far more realistic and difficult while protecting them from Orochimaru by getting them out and reducing morale at the same time AND giving them valuable shinobi skills at the same time. Them freaking out was probably a bit of malicious amusement to him too.

"We're going to participate." Sasuke grinned holding up the nominations.

"For one round." Sakura pointed out.

"That doesn't matter, we'll get behind the scenes information on chunin exams and that's more important. I'm guessing they change the exams every time as not to give teams like us advantages." He smirked.

"Sensei is a monster." Naruto breathed admiringly.

**DETAILS: **GO TO ROOM 304 NO LATER THAN 4PM TO HAND IN THE REGISTRATION FORMS.

Kakashi had somehow managed to doodle one of his chibi pictures waving at them with a little caption saying _maa_ _have a little faith in your sensei_.

They grinned at the paper. This they could do. The Hokage tipped his hat over his eyes smirking. It was so fun to mess with the new genin.

…..

Couple of hours later they met up outside the building they were supposed to be at.

"Okay we have an hour to hand these in." Sakura stated looking at her shadow. "The raining has finally stopped thank Kami." The water was up to their ankles and cool on their skin. All the colours were muted and grey and the breeze carried the smell of wild flowers and salt.

"Are we adopting personas?" Naruto asked quietly. "If we appear competent then we might get targeted."

"Nervous, weak first timers?" Sasuke looked for protests, "Nervous, weak first timers it is."

"Hide the fan." Naruto told him with piercing eyes, "The name Uchiha will draw trouble. Your clan was legendary…"

Sasuke gritted his teeth at the thought of taking off his clan identity. He was the last…it defined him…but he recognised the compliment given to his clan and nodded brusquely. Naruto handed him a knee length coat henged from one of his bunshins. He nodded his thanks and shrugged it on.

"That just made you an instant magnet to all the girls." Naruto warned awkwardly as Sasuke shot him a glare coming to the same conclusion.

"Sakura, still have the clip Anko gave you?"

"This thing?" She held up the glittery monstrosity and clipped it in her hair. "Immature boy loving kunoichi coming up."

"Well then let's go." Naruto said cheerfully, "Let's go kick people out of the exams."

….

The passageway was blocked exactly like last time with muttering genin around the disguised chunin.

Thump.

Lee collapsed on the floor from a well-placed strike.

"Hah! You plan to take the chunin exams with that?! You should quit now. You're just a little kid." Kotetsu sneered leaking the very slightest killing intent, just enough to keep the genin on edge.

"Yeah-yeah." Izumo agreed smirking slightly.

"Let us through." Tenten pleaded but Kotetsu's hand blurred and she fell back with a cry as he backhanded her.

"Horrible…" came a mutter from the crowd of nervous genin.

"What did you say?" Kotetsu asked mockingly, "Listen, this is our kindness. The Chunin exams aren't easy…even we've failed it three times straight. Those that take this exam and end up quitting as shinobis, those that die…we've seen it all. Chunins are captains of military teams, the failure of a mission, the death of a comrade…that is all the captain's responsibility. Yet kids like you think you can pass?"

"We're just thinning out those that fail anyway. What's wrong with that?"

Naruto stomped on Sasuke's foot, "Keep quiet."

"Yes thank you genius." Hissed back Sasuke.

"That sounds like Tenten." Sakura whispered, "But she was so strong willed …not like that."

"That is Team 9." Sasuke clarified, "I can see Neji near the front. Guess we weren't the only ones to put up an act…think they're actually in the exams?"

"Yes…Team 9 is one of the strongest teams here. I guarantee it." Naruto said at once. Sakura looked at him weirdly.

"Naruto, you haven't even seen the others."

"Think about it. They have Lee…genius of the Iron fist, Neji…a genius of the Gentle fist and Tenten who can hit a wasp from three hundred metres away. In close combat they will overpower anyone, in range Tenten can pick them off with ease. In addition they have one of the three great dojutsu. I doubt there's many teams with defence and offence in all three areas. Their only weak spot is ninjutsu and genin don't even know that many."

"That's some good analysis." Sakura spoke somewhat impressed. Naruto smiled, everyone who survived the war gained analysis skills. He was no different.

"Where's the stairwell?" Sasuke scanned the room.

"To the right."

"Let's sneak away then." Team 7 casually meandered over to the hidden stairwell.

"Ah Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! My sensei's eternal rival's team!" Lee bellowed at the top of his lungs. "I see your youth blazed so brightly your sensei entered you too."

"How did he spot us?" Sakura wondered in bafflement, "We have so many people between us."

The crowd of genin shifted slightly so they had a clear view of the front. Lee rubbed at his cheek and grinned at them. Naruto grinned seeing his old friend in that infamous spandex for the first time. Sakura blinked rapidly not quite being able to reconnect her mental image of Lee from his voice with the reality.

Kotetsu laughed, "What's this? More cannon fodder? It's honestly embarrassing that you consider yourselves capable of becoming chunin. I mean…can you handle military operations if all it takes to send you to your knees is this?" Both his and Izumo's killing intent flared. Thick heavy bloodlust hung and bubbled in the air between them and the genin panicked under the utter certainty and confidence of the duo. _They could defeat them. They could kill them. And they wouldn't think twice._

"Pathetic." Sneered Kotetsu as he surveyed the scene. Half the genin were on their knees or white faced. "If you can't handle my killing intent, how can you handle being on the field?"

There were only a few teams not affected. Team 7 exchanged startled glances with Team 9 who in all honesty had expected Team 7 to collapse. In truth while their bloodlust was impressive…it was nothing compared to an angry Kakashi and so even Sakura could keep her head up albeit with a wince. A few other teams remained standing smirking nastily and checking out the competition.

"We should have pretended to collapse." Muttered Naruto under his breath.

"Too late now." Sasuke breathed back.

"Not bad." Izumo spoke. His voice was tainted with a semi mocking curl. "But if all you can do is stand…" He vanished in a blur of blue.

Clang.

A short tanto struck off a pair of crossed kunai in a shower of sparks. Not missing a beat Izumo spin kicked before feinting left and slamming the genin into the nearby wall. His team mates shouted to interfere. Kotetsu blurred. One of them jumped as he suddenly reappeared behind them sweeping their feet out under them. The one which jumped somersaulted but Izumo slammed his genin's head into the wall and tossed him so they collided and fell in a heap on top of the other groaning genin on the floor.

"Go!" Sakura pulled the boys into the stairwell as everyone was distracted by the fighting. "They're that good and they're still not chunin?!" She gasped.

"Let's just hope they're plants like us and they're at the level of high chunin or something." Naruto muttered.

Sasuke just looked thoughtful, he now knew who all the stronger people were…now for plans to get them kicked out.

….

Naruto stared at the cramped hall in which hundreds of genin were milling around. How on earth had Ibiki managed to weed this many people down to about a fraction of its size? His eyes flickered over the room taking in squad formations assessing strengths and weaknesses from what he could see. Where was Gaara? Where was Kabuto? He honestly did not know what he would do if he saw Kabuto again, he was after all responsible for the grave desecrations of so many ninja. Edo Tensei was a curse from hell and he had used it like no tomorrow.

_Kurama? Can you feel Shukaku's presence?_

**I could but then he'd know I'm here too…he doesn't like me much.**

_So bad idea to get you to sense him. _Naruto hummed.

"How many are there?" Sakura breathed in awe.

"Only a few will become Chunin." Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Let's make that number as small as possible."

"They all look so strong…"

"Sasuke! You're late!" A flash of purple and yellow tackled Sasuke around the neck; he barely stopped himself from throwing the girl off on reflex alone. "I haven't seen you in so long! I've been waiting in excitement." Ino pouted with her arms wound around Sasuke's neck.

Sakura bared her teeth, "Get away from him Ino-pig." She hissed.

"Why if it isn't Sakura…big ugly forehead like always." Drawled Ino, propping herself up using Sasuke's shoulder.

"What did you say!?"

Ah Ino and Sakura fighting like normal. Even when they made up they still had fights but somehow they were 'different' according to the girls.

"You guys taking this stupid test too? Don't die…" A lazy voice drifted over.

"Shika, Choji." Naruto grinned at them, remembering what they had been like in the future. "You haven't changed at all."

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched and he shot Naruto a dry look.

Choji grinned and offered Naruto his packet, Naruto took some gladly.

"Almost didn't see you there out of your eyesore."

"I looked like a bratty civilian didn't I?" Naruto returned indignantly.

"If you kept your mouth shut sure." Drawled Shikamaru. "Which was all of two seconds."

The girl's conversation about owning Sasuke went ignored with ease.

"Found you!" A series of furious barking punctuated the statement. Kiba was easily noticeable in the crowd especially with Akamaru perched on his head. Flanking him was his team; Shino and Hinata. "Well, well everyone is assembled." The boy gave a canine grin and it sent Naruto reeling mentally reminding him powerfully of the older boy's wolfish smirk.

"Ah hello." Hinata greeted timidly as Shino nodded silently.

"Geez, you guys too?" Shika grouched over his shoulder.

"Us too." A familiar voice called. Shishui draped arms over Kiba's shoulder. "Long time no see man."

Kigura and Yamara smiled at them and moved to talk to the other girls. Kigura's eyes raked uncomfortably over Naruto's skin but he gave no sign his skin was crawling.

"I see…all 12 of this year's rookies are taking the exam." Kiba huffed thoughtfully. Sasuke shot Naruto a look which was cheerfully ignored. "I wonder how far we'll get…eh Sasuke."

"Pfft you seem confident Kiba." Sasuke smirked.

"We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you." Kiba stood his ground cockily. "We haven't even seen you in the village for weeks Shishui. Where on earth have you been?"

"Cooped up in offices doing paperwork." The boy admitted. Sakura didn't believe him one bit. The speed he had shown in dodging her kunai was proof he was doing far more than paperwork.

"And you think you can compete in the chunin exams after doing paperwork?" Kiba's voice rose incredulously.

"Inside voice mutt." Kigura cut in coolly, "You'll see soon enough if we're competent or not."

"Ah Kiba didn't mean it in that way." Hinata looked down at the ground stammering.

"Fighting already." Shikamaru gazed at the ceiling, "This brings me back…"

"But there's no Iruka sensei to keep us in check this time." Naruto added wistfully.

"Are you ready for this?" Choji asked Yamara quietly. She nodded back face relaxing into a smile. "Don't worry about us…just look at that crowd. Watch your back…"

"We will be underestimated as young and experienced. That is our advantage in this fight."

Sasuke nodded in agreement with Shino. "Even cubs have claws."

"It doesn't matter if we're targeted." Ino flipped her hair, "Why? This is our home ground. We naturally have the advantage."

"Too much confidence is defined as arrogance." Sakura commented slyly. "A very unattractive trait."

"Do not be too confident. These are the elite genin from their respective countries." Kigura commented grimly.

"So they're the strongest each country has." Hinata stuttered. "Makes you almost lose your confidence."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. They were all making enough noise…where was Kabuto with his cards? He scanned the crowd for a glimpse of silver hair but…there wasn't any…What? What was happening? Why were things related to Orochimaru happening oddly? Kabuto was an important player dammit and if Naruto had no idea where he was…His internal panicking was cut off by a light crackling behind them.

They all froze as the air hissed and popped menacingly. A hissing came from the ground as gas was released into the room. People yelled and leapt back clumping together as the air itself caught fire. White fire blazed hot and dizzying, its heat forced the nearest genin to stumble back with gritted teeth. Its blue core ebbed then flared searing across their visions. Afterimages were blinked away but it didn't help in the least. One by one they looked away from the intense light and heat; the blue flame roared as it reared up to the ceiling...spreading over the roof, burning, searing, crackling…

"What's going on?!"

"Is this some Konoha trap?!"

Someone screamed. "Dogs! Get them away!"

What?

"Bloody hell where'd the train come from?" came another frantic shout.

"Train?! It's horses you idiot!"

_What? _It was just fire!

**Genjutsu brat…hmmf as if that would work on my occupant.**

The fire abruptly went out leaving everyone blinking with their distorted vision. The sound vanished so fast several people lost their balance. Confusion reigned in the hall with hundreds of genin blind, deaf and disorientated.

"Well would you look at all the little maggots squirming around." A sadistically amused voice purred, pitched just right that it seemed to be coming from behind each individual. "Makes my _skin crawl. _Makes me want to just wrap them up and slit their throats as you're stupidly blinking up at me._"_

**Reviews are love ^.^**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto now or forever. Pity …could have been rich. Here you lot, have another chapter. Just wanted to ask, what do you guys think of the latest chapters of the manga?**

_Anko? _She was meant to be proctoring the second task…ohhh Team 5 was in the exams…Ibiki couldn't take up his role as examiner because of that most likely. So question was…who was taking the second examinations now?

He shook away the last of his distorted vision as Anko and the menacing team of proctors shunshinned in dramatically. He couldn't see the playful glints in any of their faces and he knew all of them were looking at their shinobi masks. Each proctor was lean and hunched slightly, like a great cat, as if they could spring at anyone with a split second's warning. Their dark gray and white uniforms only served to emphasize their intimidating appearance. Some smiled revealing filed teeth, some smirked while most had sadistic flickers of amusement etched on their faces. Anko was at the front. She stood a head shorter than everyone else but she made up for that in sheer presence. No one could look away from her fanged leer as soft bloodlust leaked across the floor.

"Look at you lot." She sneered, "You think you're all capable of becoming chunin? Chunin isn't some lowly pit stop on the way to being great…to make chunin just means when you face me…you die quicker." She threw back her head laughing and Naruto saw flickers of apprehension on many of the genin's faces. She stopped laughing just as suddenly and frowned. "Well then, let's see if we can't get rid of all the wannabe ninjas and focus on the real trash."

She snapped her fingers, "All of you line up. I don't care how but all of you will do so without causing a scene or I swear to fucking Kami I'll let you bleed out."

Bleed out? What? He had an ominous feeling that Anko wasn't quite following her instructions. Was she saying she'd kill genin just to get them to behave?

She reached under her overcoat and drew out a small vial. He froze. That was an antidote vial, Sakura in his future swore by them. _She had poisoned them! _Or was that a bluff? When could she have had the chance…?

"Am I bluffing?" She asked quietly, "Am I telling the truth? This is the antidote to a poison all of you have pumping in your blood stream. Is it lethal? Is it an inconvenience? Is this a poison? Is this harmless?"

The thunderstruck genin stared back. Were they supposed to believe her that she had poisoned them?

"You may be wondering that I'm trying to intimidate you." She continued ruthlessly, "That I'm riling you up…that I had no chance to poison you." She smiled sweetly for a second but all they saw was a demon's cruel smirk. "Just ask your poison experts…not all poisons need to be injected…why some only need skin contact." Her eyes flicked lazily to the puddles of water dripping from the frozen genin.

Sasuke and Naruto swivelled to stare at Sakura who nodded shakily once confirming what Anko said as truth.

"Being chunin is as much a game of luck as it is of skill…Do you hear your blood pumping in your ears now? Doesn't it sound a little too fast, too loud? Do you feel the sweat on your palms? Does it not feel a bit too slick? Does your throat feel a bit too dry? Too painful?" She leaned forward slightly allowing her overcoat to flap open slightly. No one moved. Everyone was too busy transfixed by the words out of her mouth.

"Is that the poison? Or is it your own fear and bile clawing its way up? Decide little prey. Those who choose to give up now will get the truth about whether the poison exists. Those who choose to continue." Her mouth twisted, "They can choose to take the antidote or not. Make no mistake. This is not the first exam…I can kill you with no penalties_. Welcome to the Konoha Chunin exams maggots._"

The proctors moved as if on a silent command. Most of them flanked the walls, two set up post by both doors at opposite walls. The genin burst into mumbled whisperings, gazing darkly at the female nin.

"This wasn't part of the brief." Sasuke hissed under his breath. "She's doing this out of her free will…Sakura can you tell if we've been poisoned?"

"No…she's a poison and torture specialist." She whispered back, "She can make it as undetectable as she likes and we would never know. I don't know guys…what should we do?"

"We can't not continue." Naruto pointed out, "The terrifying thing is that she is insane enough to poison hundreds of genin to cripple other villages."

"But that was top rate acting, we'll get no clues from her. If we're not poisoned and we do take the antidote…"

"No, she won't give you an antidote. She'll give you another poison to neutralise the first." Sakura whispered, "That way if you're not poisoned and you do take the antidote you still get negative consequences for making the wrong decision."

"But if we're poisoned and we don't take the antidote…"

_Kurama am I poisoned?_

**Kukukuku this is a fine game.**

_Kurama…_

"What's to say she used the rain to do it at all? What if she bluffed that one and actually injected a few of us when we were distracted?"

"We could keep going with the what-ifs forever." Ibiki had made the first exam so that people who did not take the risk were failed as chunin…this had a similar idea but instead of just taking the risk they had to take one of two risks…and hope they made the right choice…

"Knowing her there is a time limit to this. Get in the queue and we'll talk there."

"Not near the back! If there is a time limit, that'll hinder us."

_Kurama! You burn through all poisons in my body naturally…did you notice anything?_

**How can you make decisions involving deaths of subordinates on the battlefields if you cannot make decisions about your own death? Prove yourself to me Naruto Uzumaki…**

Naruto gritted his teeth. They squeezed in between two older teams; keeping a wary eye out they carried on their furious little chat. Tension hung in the air palpably, fingers rested on kunai handles and Naruto saw many death glares shot to the exam proctors. Anko wouldn't kill them…but she would and could injure them grievously.

"Won't she get in trouble for this?!"

"Probably not…as long as no one actually dies."

"That leaves quite a large spectrum of injuries to choose from…I heard the newest rage was artery leaking poisons. There was the liver failure ones a few years back…there are too many choices of poisons she could have given us with a delayed symptom rate."

"A general cure won't work?"

"Not on specialised ones, which I think she may be bluffing about…"

Teams were now making their choices. He saw a crowd around the two proctors at the exit; sullen and silent, the first few teams steeped forward at the other end and Anko gave them a choice. They ignored her and carried on after selecting a number from a box. The next team chose to drink it…the next team also did. The one after that made a strange selection. The kunoichi chose to drink it but the other two swept along.

"Well that's logical but so cold!" Sakura whispered, "Now they know someone will get injured for definite."

The pace sped up. The genin made frantic decisions and the queue moved faster than Team 7 would have liked. Everyone looked pale and there was uncomfortable heat in all their stomachs and washing through their chest areas. Was that fear? Or something worse? About 50 teams quit at that stage…Naruto thought he saw a glimmer of quiet satisfaction in Anko's eyes.

He recognised Gaara's team as they stepped up. This could give them a clue…Shukaku might have told Gaara what choice to make depending on if he was feeling more charitable than Kurama. But then he remembered Gaara's sand would be near useless in the rain…so he had most likely had got Temari to shield them all…He groaned and sank his head in his hands as Team Subaku strode in confidently without even glancing at the vials.

It was their turn in a few minutes. They had to make a choice fast.

"If they transmitted the poison through the water, does that mean anyone near the entrance who weren't genin got affected too?"

"Probably not. I can't see them making that mistake." Came a doubtful answer.

"Don't take it. We'll be out of here soon enough and we can find out then. Let's not trust the crazy woman and take her word for anything."

"Isn't that the same argument for let's take it?"

"You know a Byakugan would be really useful right now…we'd be able to see conditions of the people through the wall…"

"Where is Team 8?"

"Quite far behind us…"

The team before them stepped forward and drank the antidote. Team 7 stepped up shooting each other veiled glances hiding the panicking inside.

Decision time.

Sakura didn't reach for a vial. She had listened to Anko ramble on about her work…and just no.

Sasuke reached for a vial and tipped it back.

Naruto didn't reach for one…Kurama could burn out the poisons anyway.

The three of them pulled a number and walked into the familiar room where Ibiki had terrified all of them the last time around it had happened. They filled up their place and looked around. Dotted around the room were pale, shaking genin. Their stomachs plummeted. The poisons were an elaborate ploy after all. They had been hoping for the very small chance that there had been no poison and the antidote was water. Two genin collapsed to the floor shaking uncontrollably as their team mates were pinned to their seats by kunai expertly thrown by the proctors.

"You can't do this!" One of them yelled, "What have you done to him!?"

The proctor with the bandages over his eyes stared at him but didn't answer.

The last of the teams trickled in and Anko slammed the doors shut after them as she turned to face the front grinning.

"Not bad, not bad little maggots. 150 teams left…I can now tell you that exactly half of all of you outside were discretely poisoned. And yes it was real…and the antidote was a countering poison."

Murmurs broke out like ripples on a pond's surface.

"So question is…how many healthy people drank the poison? How many poisoned people didn't? And who are the lucky few…" her eyes pierced them all, "Who survived that purge?"

Sakura gripped the table tightly, her fingers were experiencing little stabbing pains like hot pins in her flesh. No! Sasuke stiffened as he shot glances at his team mates…unknown to all he rolled an unsealed antidote vial between his fingers under the table. Naruto shook his head minutely to signal he was fine.

"No more free cures for any of you." Anko drawled at the front, "You drew your luck and now you have to play by it. You can't pick and mix your luck on the field after all…Now! Let's start the first exam." She clapped her hands. "I have read the rules but I think they're a little boring…so I decided to change some of them!"

Oh Kami no. She really was going to end up dropping everyone out at this rate.

"I can just see your excitement so I'll start." A wicked smile played on her face and she turned to write on the board.

"Are the individual poisons fatal?!" A random genin cried out. Many agreed with the speaker, muttering under their breath. Anko scowled and dragged the chalk down the board with a screech.

"You _do not_ interrupt me when I am talking." She warned dangerously. "Fatal? If you were so worried about fatalities you should have palmed the bottle we so generously offered shouldn't you? If you were worried about fatalities you should not be here little girl."

It was very easy to forget that Anko too was a prodigal apprentice of a Sannin. Not now. Her every movement dripped of lazy grace and lethal intent.

….

"If you're not doing the First task, who is?" Kurenai asked lightly leaning back.

"Anko." Ibiki grunted, "We needed someone good at crowd manipulation without giving away all our employees. It was either me or her."

Kurenai shivered delighted, "Ooh they're in for something alright!" She threw her head back and laughed.

"I don't know what's worse…Ibiki applying mental pressure or Anko making you frantic." Asuma mused. "I worked with her before…damn that woman is scary…Kakashi…think your kids can do it?"

"They're not meant to." Kakashi answered amused, chin resting on the back of his hand. "My team is meant to demoralise yours and add to the atmosphere."

Kurenai stilled. "You have the blond gaki don't you?"

"Worried about your Hyuuga?" Kakashi smirked under his mask, "Yes I have the brat."

"Won't your kids have the advantage being practically nursed in the T and I department?" Asuma shot at Ibiki who shook his head.

"They've met Anko yes but they haven't had their heads screwed with to the degree she's planning to do now. In fact since they have met her before…I think they're going to be even more panicked."

The rookie Jonin-senseis shared a few chuckles at that knowing it to be true.

….

"Rules!" Anko cricked her neck, "You each have a sheet of questions in front of you. You have to answer them. Each question is worth 1 point…in between your team you must have 18 points to pass. You start from 10 and lose a point if you can't answer… If you can't answer any you fail. You get caught cheating you lose 2 points. Get 0 points and I get target practice. This is a team challenge!

If any member of your team fails…the entire team fails!" She chuckled at the looks she was getting. "Bet you're wishing you palmed some of the vials we offered aren't you? Some of you did…and we have our eyes on you."

Sasuke tried not to stiffen up.

"As shinobi trying to reach the next tier be proud ninjas. This is an extra rule because I'm in a good mood, you can trade ten points for a cure to whichever poison a team mate is suffering from. So at most you can spare one cure and pass…or you can all return home healthy. The test lasts for 60 minutes. Begin!" She barked and all the papers flipped over with loud rustling.

Their mission started now. Get as many teams as possible disqualified from 150…Thankfully none of them were sitting by people they knew or it would have been slightly difficult to pass off what they were doing. A quick scan of the paper showed it was just as insanely difficult as he remembered.

People around him were now staring at their papers with horror and the tension was mounting again as the claustrophobic tendencies began to rise. He pretended to scoff quite loudly and bent over his paper protectively scribbling furiously. Attention drawn. He put his arm around his paper like a protective barrier. Attention hooked. Then he sat back with a smug smile on his face as he "discretely" took in his competitors. Oh yes…hungry wolves leaping for the rotten kill.

The question he had pretended to answer was a devilishly tricky one involving tactics, strategy and supply lines. The actual answer was a little incredible to believe…so his fake answer made a lot more sense to them but in actuality it would have got everyone starving near the half-way point. Thank you Shika! No one was going to believe the real answer over his. He preened slightly before realising that yes Shika was in the room and he would alert his team to the ruse. Hopefully his little act had drawn the proctor's attention too so they would be paying close attention to the people around him. Damn Ino's and Shika's Kekkei Genkei would be so good at this.

Sasuke caught sight of Naruto's little show out of the corner of his eye and smirked. Naruto got the hang of it then. Good… He had an additional problem to focus on…how to get the vial to Sakura? She was curling and uncurling her hands quickly…maybe she was losing feeling in them? How to get her attention without making a sound?

Sakura gritted her teeth. Anko was a cruel vindictive bitch but she was also very good at what she did. She could feel her chakra being slowly leeched away…her extremities were slowly losing feeling. It was a horrible feeling, like a huge cold hole had opened up inside her. It wouldn't kill her but it would knock her out if it leeched too much…she thought. Many people were in similar situations to her around the room…she grinned behind her curtain of pink. What a good thing it was that she was accustomed to functioning with low chakra. Other genin would collapse faster because they couldn't regulate their chakra and weren't used to the shallow chakra pools; she would collapse faster because of her already low pools. Question was who was first? And how could she take out before she succumbed? She picked up her pencil between numb fingers and set it to paper.

There was a Yamanaka directly behind him a few rows back. Naruto smirked and slumped over on his desk. Then he picked himself up hurriedly and scanned his answers before slumping again and waking up blearily. Heh-heh mind swap jutsu incriminated.

Sasuke spotted several nin with rock headbands sitting very still with their hands splayed on the table. Hmm were they looking for vibrations through the wood of pencils on paper? Very nice…With a clatter Sasuke dropped his pencil and as he ducked to retrieve it his other hand slipped a shuriken from his pouch and a small hissing could be heard as he imbued with very low level lightning. A flick of his wrist. One of the rock genin's chair abruptly tilted as his chair legs slid out underneath him and with a cry he crashed into the person next to him and continued a chain reaction for his whole bench in the crowded space. Vibrations disturbed. Proctor attention caught. Success.

"213 you fail. Get your team and leave." Anko spoke suddenly and the mentioned genin opened his mouth to protest only to have his cheek split open gushing blood. Anko smirked only to point at a kunai stuck in the back of his chair. "You fail at spotting kunai too." Everyone blinked…no one had even seen her throw it!

This started a chain reaction. "432 fail."

"78 fail."

"287 fail."

"139, 328, 228 fail."

Sakura gripped the table scribbling furiously. She could answer all of them…it was slightly trickier to answer them in such a way they made perfect sense and were still wrong.

"134 fail."

"198 fail."

Her neighbour leant slightly to look at someone else's paper. She sacrificed some of her chakra to produce a few white hot sparks and dug her finger into his thigh. He yelped and jumped away making his intention all too clear to everyone.

"381 fail."

Tenten used gleaming wire to manipulate the mirrors on the ceiling. How on earth had she managed to attach them? Sasuke shook his head and left her alone. The Hyuugas were surely using their Byakugans…all the kids were moving now. Yamanakas were causing people to slump over, flies and sand flitted this way and that. Kiba's dog was barking…seriously Kiba? Sweat trickled down his forehead… Sweat? No it was getting more humid…Mist genin most likely. Right time for some trickery. He made the signs for great fireball under his desk and concentrated hard. No fire. No fire. No fire. Just heat building up, just hot air. He breathed in and blew. Hot dry desert wind escaped from his mouth cutting through the humidity with ease. The Suna nin closed their eyes smiling. The Mist people grimaced but let their technique drop. He choked slightly as he couldn't suppress all the fire and coughed up a few flames.

"412 fail."

"82 fail."

"31 fail."

Naruto steepled his fingers and concentrated. Feel the currents…He flicked a finger and gusts of wind erupted blowing away several people's papers towards a startled Suna nin. His own paper went too…for appearances sake.

"69 fail."

"194 fail."

"441 fail."

"403 fail."

More and more people trickled out of the room sullenly. Pressure and tension skyrocketed. Anko smirked from the front cleaning her fingernails with a kunai. No one dared protest now against their dismissal. The last one ended up nearly having a kunai impale him in a sensitive spot.

"117 fail."

Kankuro moved to go to the bathroom. Gaara's third eye hovered over Naruto's work drawn by his chakra for some strange reason. Smiling Naruto crushed it between his palms. _Why, hello Gaara_.

"413 fail."

"337 fail."

"Alright maggots! 45 minutes are up. Time for the tenth question." Anko grinned lounging cross legged on the desk. "Oh hurry up, you're too old to play with dolls for Kami's sake."

Kankuro slid into his seat abashed. Temari fingered the tiny scroll he had slipped her on the way.

"Now. Is there anyone who would like to swap ten points for a cure? Speak now, this is your only chance." Many people had collapsed from their seats during the exam and Sakura thought she might collapse in a while too but she held her ground.

A few teams raised their hands and were handed the cure and promptly booted from the exam. About 40 teams were left now. Sasuke clenched his fist…he had the cure, just no way of getting it to Sakura fast enough.

Anko surveyed the room slowly then clapped her hands. "Okay the tenth question has additional rules! Fun, no?"

Pin drop silence fell as the genin leant forward reluctantly fascinated. Something about her screamed predator.

"Rules of Desperation…You can choose to take the tenth question or not…Take it and get it wrong and you can never rise above the rank of genin! However if you refuse to take it then your points are reduced to 0…and you get kicked from the exams!" She grinned, "A chance to become chunin now versus the inability to never rise above a genin. Choose!"

Mutterings broke out. This was an insane decision…following her little stunt beforehand no one doubted her threats.

"What the hell! There's people here who have taken the test before!" Kiba yelled. Anko chuckled darkly. "I didn't mean you couldn't take the chunin exams again brat…I meant you literally _couldn't _become chunin." Blood lust leaked from her adding to the heightened tension in the room. Heartbeats quickened and eyes widened.

"You mean…?" Kiba stammered.

She smiled and Naruto was suddenly reminded of Orochimaru's vicious smiles. Blink. She was gone. What! Where did she go?

Anko crooned in front of Kiba her hand forcing his chin back, little finger tapping on his pulse. "_Exactly what I said little maggot." _She released him and he fell back breathing quickly in fear and surprise.She had the whole room hooked on her every word now.

"But I'm not heartless…if you choose not to take the question you can try again in six months' time." Her lips twitched, "You got me this year. Worst luck any of you ever drew…raise your hand if you wish to try again next time and leave with your team. You can get an antidote on the way out." She waved a hand vaguely sweetening the deal.

Oh she was very good…Naruto thought admiringly.

A trembling genin pushed himself to his feet, "I won't take it! Sorry guys."

"449 fail."

"Nor me!"

Another genin bit his lip and pushed himself to his feet looking ashamed.

"I'm sorry Gennai, Ihoho…" A chair scraped.

A girl looked at her collapsed team mates sighed and stood up closing her eyes.

"Dammit!" A long haired boy punched the table and forced himself up.

"I quit."

"Sorry guys"

"Me too." Dejected teams walked out of the door shoulders slumped.

Time for Team 7 to speak up. Naruto breathed and stood up so quickly his chair fell backwards. Hinata's stunned face entered his field of vision.

"I give…I'd take the lives of my squad over risking them any day! I'm not going to see them die in front of me!" He saw the Grass hats out of the corner of his eye and resisted the temptation of sticking his tongue out at a disguised Orochimaru. Sasuke would not get the curse mark this time. He turned and walked out determinedly.

Shikamaru stared. What the hell was Naruto doing? All the rookies were gaping…they hadn't expected Naruto to give up at all! Not with his dream. Team 7 was done for…but he could help Team 8. His shadow lashed out and caught Hinata's a split second before Naruto's departure sapped her bravery and she gave up. He strained to keep her in her seat…Shino noticed and sent him a grateful look. Shika nodded back distractedly.

Sasuke and Sakura stood up. "You can't risk so much for something so little." He bit out, "It's stupid, it's better to retreat and come back when the conditions are more favourable."

Sakura clasped the back of her chair, "Taking the rest of the exam like this is plain suicidal." She breathed before staggering. Sasuke gripped her elbow and led her out.

People looked stricken. They raised many valid points.

"I give!"

"And me!"

"God dammit they're right." A girl gripped her hair and stood up.

A boy looked at his suffering team mate, sighed and stood.

Anko smirked minutely. Kakashi had some very good kids…she was down to about 16 teams now and they seemed to be the ones to stay.

…

She clenched her fist so hard she left bloody half-moons behind. If he gave up then she couldn't keep track of him in the exams! She needed to give up too. She was just about to raise her hand when she froze and collapsed. She lifted her head up gritting her teeth.

"Come on just a little longer…come on crazy examiner lady." She muttered.

…..

The Grass kunoichi tapped the desk idly. This was an unwelcome change of plans…

….

Team 7 watched the number of teams leaving with a hawk's eye.

"That makes 16 teams left." Sasuke muttered. Sakura agreed, feeling much better after drinking the counter poison. Her chakra was still quite low but she'd be fine in a few hours.

"We should go report back." Naruto said after a while when no one else left. "We're done here."

"The rest of the Rookies have gone through…they're never going to let us live this down." Sasuke grumbled.

"We were this close to making Team 8 fail too." Sakura held up two fingers very close together, "But…Shikamaru happened."

"Little girl." A familiar voice drawled bored. "How many Sound teams left in the running?" hey spun around. The tall masked Sound nin leered down with his cloaked partner standing silently at his side.

"We didn't count." Sakura got out a little forcefully.

"Ahh that's a shame. We were going to open a bottle for every team but if you don't know…Is this your actual body or are you cosplaying again?"

"None of your business." Sasuke cut in, "Master Hosho we need to be going."

"Ah the little Uchiha. I heard about you…so refreshing to see an Uchiha not among the clouds."

Naruto stiffened. That was just a phrase…right? He couldn't possibly mean Itachi and Akatsuki…or was he being paranoid?

"If you don't know anything then move brats." Just like that the nin lost interest and the pin point focus in his eye dimmed. Naruto watched him stalk past, the cowled nin turned to face him and there was flash of something searing hot where his eyes should have been. Naruto blinked and stumbled backwards.

"Creep."

"Yeah."

"Think you drew his attention with all the sneaking you do Sakura."

"That's not helpful…"

…..

The Hokage tapped his pipe.

"Well done Team 7 for a successful B rank." He smiled kindly, "Your pay will be deposited with your sensei for him to distribute."

"When will he be back Jiji?" Naruto spoke up.

"Well it is an A rank…and he is Kakashi…" Hiruzen puffed contentedly, "Five days…you just missed him in fact…I think you made him very proud, I could feel his smugness from here."

"He's the second examiner isn't he?" Naruto's eyes gleamed. What a guy... Now Kakashi could keep an eye on Orochimaru and oversee the forest and aid anyone much faster than anyone. Since Team 7 dropped out and Anko moved forward to the first task, there was a huge opportunity and he had just snatched it up.

The Hokage smirked but didn't confirm it.

….

"If sensei is the second examiner…because we were going to drop out but we only found we were going to drop out and be a decoy team a few hours ago. If Naruto had agreed to take the exams for real then the second exam would need someone else…surely they can't have told Kakashi to take it on the chance we weren't." Sasuke muttered to Sakura.

"I don't think they would leave the position open for so long so they must have had someone in it before…I think Naruto mentioned it should have been Anko but Kakashi…it doesn't make sense!" Sakura bit out.

"Only way this makes sense if Naruto was never going to take the exams and Kakashi knew…" Sasuke ran his hands through his hair gazing at the sky. "…I mean we've known him for longer and we wouldn't have guessed he wouldn't take it."

"Sensei's a lot smarter and observant than us though. Maybe he picked up some hint that we missed." Sakura shrugged, then frowned, "I don't like the idea of him planning around us though."

Sasuke didn't say anything. If sensei was that smart and observant…how had he missed Genma traumatising him until it got truly dangerous? He should have been there the moment Sasuke woke up…Kakashi was good, undeniably good…what did this mean?

….

A bird squawked and flapped into the sky. Several others followed it and the only sound they could hear was flesh and blood wings. It was comforting. It was also spooky.

"Kami Teme. You lived here?" Naruto breathed.

"Live." Corrected Sasuke, "It was a lot livelier…you know…back then."

It was a ghost town. Houses stood in perfect condition, no dust, no pests, things exactly as the dead Uchiha had left it that fateful day. Sakura had seen the rotting food on the tables to welcome people home and clapped a hand over her mouth. Lawns were half mown, shops still open…people could just walk in and start up the Uchiha's lives exactly as they left off.

"In here." Sasuke muttered, "Izuna Uchiha made this armoury after he gave his eyes up. It was personal dojo they say and every Uchiha contributes to it so when in need the Uchiha always have weapons to defend themselves with."

He lit the lamps with a few sparks and shook away the smoke. "Careful, there are traps."

Sakura hurried to keep up, not wanting to be alone in the dark hallway. There were a set of stone steps into the rock and Sasuke led the way down, their little lamp flickering in the dark. The journey down was in complete silence as Sasuke fell further and further into morose memories and nostalgia. When he spoke again after about a minute or two of walking his voice was dead.

"Welcome to the Uchiha armoury." The light quivered a bit before the light illuminated a low room stretching as far as the eye could see to either direction. They breathed in sharply. When Sasuke had said it had dated from the warring clans era they hadn't quite understood what he truly meant. Stone soldiers in rows spanned the length of the entire room, still and silent…guardians in the dark. Their blank stone eyes gazed forward at the intruders as if accusing them. The older ones were clad in warring era armour, their stone was worn and chipped, the weapons coated in rust and broken. There must have been thousands there…

"Oh my God." Sakura breathed. "There's one for every Uchiha?"

Sasuke's teeth flashed, "More."

Naruto was still trying to take in the scale of the room and all the statues.

"This is an armoury? This is a museum!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes the older ones are useless. But the newer ones still have workable weapons." He pointed with the lamp down the hall to the dark gaping hole. They stepped forward in between the cold statues. The light played curious tricks down there, making shadows dance over their features and darkness pooled in their Sharingan carved eyes.

"Let's hurry. It's too creepy to linger." Naruto muttered to Sakura. They turned to tell Sasuke this but stopped at the sight of him smiling gently at the statues of his family. They turned their backs again hastily to give him privacy.

"Ahh I think we can manage." Sakura whispered back.

…..

Kakashi narrowed his eye at his crop of testees. 16 teams…manageable. The Hokage had forbidden him to be more than fifteen minutes late and he had used that time admirably. His dogs were now trailing through the Forest 44 setting up little cameras and he had slipped into the crowd unnoticed as a weedy genin. With his information gathering done he slouched up to the front of the room and noticed with amusement the insolent stares the brats sent him.

Poof.

Jonin Kakashi Hatake slouched on the desk in full jonin armour, with his flyaway silver hair and dark mask covering up most of his face. In front of a crowd of stunned genin he thought he pulled the intimidating look off a bit too well.

"Yo. My name is Kakashi Hatake."

"Oh my god he's the Copy Nin."

"How long was he here?!"

"How many legends are we going to see in one day?"

"That mask!"

Murmurings broke out instantly at his name.

"I am the examiner for the second exam." He eye smiled at the crowd and laughed inwardly when they didn't know how to react. Kakashi's amused indulgence after Anko's sadism could be very disorientating. He cocked his head, "Meet me at Training ground 44 in ….ten minutes. If you don't know the way…follow someone who does. Ja ne." He shunshinned out chuckling at their faces. No one was realistically going to make it there for about half an hour so he had some extra time to spy on everyone.

….

"Here." Sasuke held the light up higher. Steel gleamed back at them from polished stone. The statues had slowly got less and less worn, the steel had got sharper and sharper until they stood in the middle of what could be gray painted live Uchihas.

"Take a weapon." He continued, "And I goddamn want to see you practising with it until your fingers are bleeding."

"These are your family weapons." Naruto said sharply, "We can't just go and take them."

"These are _my _weapons now." Sasuke half snarled, "And I do with them what I like." He thrust the light at the statues, "Hurry. If the oil goes out, you're looking in the dark. We're not going back until all three of us choose something."

"These are beautiful." Sakura murmured bending to admire the craftsmanship. "Really…really beautiful." The statues were arranged in such a way all their sound was dispersed. It was utterly silent down there other than them, how had Sasuke managed to live on his own all this time?

"There's just one problem Teme." Naruto spoke casually, "Me and Sakura can make whatever weapon we need. All we need to do is maybe carry a light back up weapon…nothing like the thing you're suggesting."

Sasuke rolled his eyes then suddenly Naruto was on the floor wheezing. Sasuke pulled his fist back.

"You won't get the chance to make your weapon if you can't take attacks." He warned. He pulled a leather vest off one statue and held it out. "It has steel plates interwoven in it. You can wear it under your top." Naruto took it and considered the extra protection he would receive. "Sakura?"

Sakura turned and the light shone off the engraved wrist guards she wore. They tapered over the back of her hand so they could easily be used to slash and stab while attacking.

Sasuke nodded approvingly, "Nice. Naruto focuses on defence and you take an offensive weapon. Now me."

Naruto caught sight of a familiar sight and smiled. "Here Sasuke…catch." He tossed the katana, sheath and all to his team mate who caught it startled. It had a plain navy sheath and dark wrapped hilt with faded silver stitching but when the blade was drawn it gleamed razor sharp in the flickering light. Sasuke let it slide back in with a scrape and grinned, "Well then, let's go. I particularly want to test this out."

…..

They stopped in one of the old sparring rings in the abandoned district to test out their new gear. Naruto happily got in a taijutsu spar with Sakura, taking care never to take her punches head on. She used his new vest as a testing ground for her slashes while Sasuke took his sword and hacked at all the trees. It fell into a repetitive routine for about half an hour.

"I need to talk to you." A strange voice cut the air. Their hearts thudded. No one else should be on the premises! They spun around to face the voice.

"Who are you!? Identify yourself." Sasuke demanded harshly holding up the sword across his body.

"Tch put that sword down before you hurt yourself." Came an irritable reply, "You start with a wooden sword first, never a steel one." The accent was quite strange, the s sounds were drawn out for longer an-Naruto froze. No.

No.

No.

They had escaped him. It couldn't be him again. His breathing quickened. The Uchiha district had powerful wards keeping intruders at bay…on top of that Kakashi and ANBU were patrolling the forest of death…and he had still managed to find Sasuke. Not this time! Oh Kami Orochimaru was a monster.

"Run." He forced out. "Guys run."

Sasuke shot him an annoyed look, "There is an intruder on my property. There is no way I am letting this go."

"Why?" Sakura demanded, "What do you know?"

A female Grass Nin stepped into a pool of dying light, her hat throwing deep shadow across her eyes. "I'm afraid your team mate is right." She murmured lightly, "You should run when your opponent severely outclasses you."

"You're a genin…just like us." Sasuke scoffed.

"You idiot! He's a Sannin." Naruto gritted his teeth. Sakura's eyes went impossibly wide.

The nin sighed and dropped her face to the ground. When she looked back up her eyes gleamed in the dark. Killing intent exploded from her frame like a repressed tidal wave. Their visions went dark with slashes of afterimages of a bright burning light. Their faces froze screaming in horror as kunai pierced between their eyes and blood spurted down their faces. They staggered gasping as the killing intent forced them to visualise their own deaths.

"You know more than you should." She hissed darkly, "It would be so easy to kill you all now."

None of them moved. His spiritual pressure was on another level to their teacher's. Kakashi had never wanted to truly kill them, this man would. This man could. Their muscles trembled as they tried to fight off the effects.

"You have something very important to me." She continued, "I will fight you for it…a battle for information if you like. For every blow you land on me I will tell you more about what I want and why I am after you." She smiled a vicious grin, "I appreciate a challenge…roar all you want little warriors, your own wards prevents the village from hearing us Sasuke kun."

From Sasuke's stricken look Naruto gathered their trouble went up exponentially.

"You're a girl." Sakura stammered out flatly.

Orochimaru threw his head back and laughed. "Straight to the point I see…very well. I will respect your abilities and treat you like warriors of the leaf." She placed her hand over the side of her face and ripped. Sakura made a sound like she was going to be sick as her skin ripped away revealing the pale features of Orochimaru underneath. His yellow eyes surveyed the scene in dark amusement.

The legendary Sannin stepped forward with the grace of a big cat as he beckoned for the frozen Team 7 to attack.

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Oh crap.

**Reviews are love ^.^**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Over 200 reviews****! Whoop! Okay here's a little list of all the factions so far…if I miss one or two leave me a PM or a review and I'll include them in the next one.**

**Future Naruto and his goals**

**Hokage and the village leaders**

**Orochimaru plotting away**

**A mysterious female spy**

**Yurei and his goals**

**Tsuya Hosho and his Sound partner**

**Kakashi interferes with things once in a while or so**

**Kurama isn't quite on Naruto's side yet**

**Inu and his torturer**

**Danzo and his little plots**

**Reviews make me happy! **

No one moved. Team 7 knew instinctively if they moved it would be taken as acceptance by the Sannin who would retaliate in kind. And there was the fact of the heavy pressure on all their bodies essentially forcing them to lock up in fear.

"Hmm not very proactive are you?" Orochimaru stated frowning, "I suppose I'll start then." Naruto's eyes went wide and he dove for Sakura sending them crashing onto the hard earth painfully, just as a large white snake lashed its tail where they had been cracking the trees behind them like glass. The great domed head hissed menacingly as it rose above them in the field. Orochimaru stood casually in the middle of its coils as if surveying a not very interesting sight.

"Stop hiding behind your summons and face us yourself!" Naruto roared.

The Sannin tilted his head mockingly, "Oh I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of your hypocrisy."

"How did you get in!? You need my permission for that!" Sasuke yelled in confusion.

Sakura frowned, "What does he mean?"

"Nothing!" Naruto spat. Sasuke irritably signalled for them to stop fighting and back him up.

Naruto opened fire first. A streak of kunai flashed towards the hissing monster as he leapt up for greater force. They slammed into the outer scales of the snake and lodged between the scales as it coiled to give itself maximum protection. There was an opening in the scales for a few seconds in the coiling.

Of course the Sannin didn't give them a chance to attack. He breathed fire. A raging torrent of white hot flames blasted just over their heads as they ducked, suddenly thankful for the chakra exercise to regulate body temperature. The flames were hungry and they sucked the oxygen and they were left breathy both from the sheer heat and the sheer terror they feel from watching the metal wall turn to slag. Naruto runs through the thick ashy smoke as he makes the seals as far as he can, he doesn't have a death wish or so he tells herself as he readies himself to do battle.

_Horse. Rat. Dog. Ox. Dragon. Rat. Bird. Wind style: Vacuum shield!_

It had been his first jutsu learnt for wind in his past life and it didn't fail him now!

The square shield appeared a little right to where he wanted it but it did the job. The fire is blocked and the raging sound behind them stops. This is bad he thought, if the fire spreads they would be trapped. But they couldn't afford the drain of putting out his fires and fighting him. Sasuke barrelled past him using the smoke and the vibrating ground to his advantage as the snake tossed his head to locate his prey and ran straight up his side. All that water walking failures meant that all of them could at least walk on solid surfaces due to them finding it pathetically easy compared to water. Running up was eerily like walking up a tree except for the heat rolling off the pulsing _alive _hide. Applying too much chakra and yes he blasted off as he was forced away towards the head. Midway through his flight he slashed at the delicate underside with his new sword. _Worst plan ever._

Blood streamed from a thin cut in the underside as the snake reared back in pain. Sasuke was stuck flying through the air as it barrelled at him jaws extended and venom dripping. Sakura struck. A very pointy piece of stone erupted from the ground just missing Sasuke and the snake impaled itself on it, driving it out of the back side of its head in a spray of gore and blood. Venom shone on the cracked spike and the blood stood out starkly on the corpse's scales as it poofed away into smoke.

"What was that?!" Naruto yelled.

"That was me using my left hand to do one of the few one handed seals I know." She yelled back pointing at the drawn circle on the ground.

"Can you make it more precise?" Sasuke rolled to his feet next to them nodding his thanks.

"No…that was the extent of my skill with it." She frowned.

"Not bad Kukukuku." Orochimaru chuckled lowly, the sound travelling oddly through the fog. "So Naruto kun is the person who counters the opponent's attack, Sasuke kun is the one to deliver his own attack and Sakura chan is the one to mop up after him…not a bad system there."

The hair on the back of their neck prickled as he analysed them effortlessly.

**I feel malice! **Kurama snapped his jaws together excitedly in Naruto's mind. **Oh…you're in a mess brat. This the one who took away your pack hunter and made it easier for me to get stolen?**

_Yes._

**Hmmf he's a Sannin…they must have got really lax with the naming since I was roaming around.**

_He can take us down the moment he gets serious._

**I know brat. **

_Want to help?_

…**I don't wish to but I think I have to. Congratulations you're officially more useless than a flea.**

_A flea?!_

**A flea can fight his battles on his own without asking for help.**

_A flea is also not going to face the Sannin of all fleas!_

**It might. Look are you going to fight or argue with me until your team mates die?**

The earth erupted from underneath Sakura in a snapping mass of stone and mud. She screamed as she was dragged under. Sasuke dove for her hand but it was too late, it gripped her and neatly threw her into a training post so hard it snapped off. She collapsed on the floor gasping painfully.

Naruto took off in a blur arcing around the Sannin in hopes of distracting him. The tall man watched him come, the madness of the fight reflected in his eyes. Kurama trickled some of his energy into Naruto's system…his eyes rapidly bled into yellow and black slits. He raised his hand a few yards away and the next moment Orochimaru was stumbling back a bruise on his chin as Naruto reappeared in front of him in a seething mass of chakra. The Sannin swung his foot quickly, too quickly to see but Naruto was able to stand his ground. It still felt like being hit by a battering ram though.

_Kuchiyose no jutsu._

When the smoke cleared ominously Team 7 found themselves face to face with an even bigger snake with the Sannin contently lounging on its head. Its tail rose almost hypnotically and their eyes followed it. They scattered! Sakura hurled herself to the side, Sasuke leapt back incredibly quickly while Naruto overloaded his feet with chakra to get off the ground fast. The entire training ground shook as the tail utterly destroyed the ground along the centre of the field. It smashed into the earth with thunderous noise and force, all of them bucked and coughed in the dust and thrown clods of earth. Orochimaru's voice rang out in the din.

"Great fireball."

They didn't have time to react.

The dust and the earth in the air exploded. White light and searing heat sent them flying back as the entire pitch destroyed itself in a series of explosions. The noise was tremendous, Naruto could hear the blood roaring in his ears before he was pinned by something white hot and burning in his leg. He screamed. The smoke slowly cleared to reveal the pale snake rising majestically from the cinders, smoke and ash like some hell sent demon with Orochimaru casually on its head like some Lord of Fire.

The Sannin jumped off lightly and walked over his steps purposely echoing. They could hear him coming but to his eternal rage they couldn't do anything.

**Stay still you fool! You were closest to the explosion. **Kurama snapped. **Heal first.**

Sakura and Sasuke were further away being better shielded by virtue of being on the other side. They seemed to be burnt, bleeding and broken too. Damn…this wasn't going well…

Orochimaru loomed over Naruto and quite deliberately stepped on his elbow. It gave with a sickening crack and he breathed in sharply.

"Are you ready to get serious now? Or do I need to break more bones…?"

"Face me." Sasuke was on his feet a fair distance away with the most deathly calm expression Naruto had ever seen.

"Is the blood of your clan boiling?" The Sannin smirked, "Very well. Let us try again."

Sasuke drew out numerous kunai and shuriken gripped between his fingers. With a harsh flick of the wrist they went speeding at Orochimaru who calmly sidestepped them…and sidestepped the wire trap hung from the kunai…and the exploding tags wrapped around the handles…and the fire Sasuke sent down the wires in hopes of injuring the man. Oh yeah he did this last time so Orochimaru knew exactly what to expect…

"Your little tricks are a little flat I'm afraid." He mockingly consoled the Uchiha. "Your kunai tricks won't get any applause from me today."

"They're not mine." Sasuke grinned.

"Hmm?"

"They're mine." Sakura had slowly pushed herself up applying staunch pressure to her stomach wound. Her grin had as much glee as Sasuke's eyes did. Sasuke punched the ground hard. Orochimaru's eyes widened and where the thrown kunai had landed smaller spikes burst from the ground and impaled the man through the stomach and back quicker than the Sannin could react.

He didn't react the way they expected. He burst into serpentine laughter, "Oh very good…medics send their chakra through systems so you adapted and sent it through the ground to activate the seals the girl already had on her kunai. You've almost impressed me!"

"Let me be the closing act for today then." Naruto gritted his teeth. Orochimaru looked down at the determined kid and grinned in delight before opening his mouth impossibly wide and two hands shoved their way out. Another body pulled itself out of the original body, it crumpled away like discarded clothing and Orochimaru straightened perfectly healthy. Disgust and horror ran rampant in his audience…if he could do that…how were they going to stand a chance?

**You're healed…brat I better get some damn gratitude for this. **Naruto felt the Kyuubi chakra seep into his system and his mind was awash in white noise. If he listened closer he could just make out a voice.

"_Kill him, rip him end to end, drink every drop before it hits the ground, ripripriprip, paint a picture with his organs hanging so lovely and bloody, crush his mind, he's in your way? How dare he! Strike him down, go through him, who does he think he is, wrap a wire around his throat, squeeze his eyes in his sockets, crushcrushcrush, don't let your desire to hurt him be bottled away, hurt him, make him scream, you hate him, make him suffer! He deserves it, remember all he's done and what he made you do! He'll destroy your perfect little world, tear it down…so tear him down before he can. Rip out his throat, pierce through his heart, anything, smear your face with proof of your courage…"_

Wide yellow eyes. Flash of red, black and brown. And a peculiar guttural howling roar.

"_That's it. Rip, tear, kill. Remember your resentment! All those people you hate, unlock that hate and unleash it. Maul him across the face, peel back his skin, see if his traitor blood splashes different colour on the grass. Make him howl with despair. Redredredred oh so red in the light. He hurt you? Repay him a hundred times over. How dare he?! He's not so mighty, you can take him, you can hurt him! If Sasuke could kill him you can too, you always knew you were worth ten of him. He left you! Where's that resentment, he left you! Without saying goodbye and this is the man responsible. Wrap your fingers around his neck and twist. Feel his bones slide out of their sockets. Stretch his spine until it shatters. Mix his blood and screams until you are satisfied then do it again for he dared to hurt what you hold precious!"_

A blow like a sledgehammer. A howl. A spray of blood. Choking miasma in his throat.

"_There, you got him. Keep at it, he'll know to never cross you again. Make him fear you! Like they should! Your power far eclipses theirs! You should not cower in the shadows of lesser cowards because they are too ignorant and prejudiced to ever understand. Reach into your hate for the village. They shunned you! You were just a child, you had no idea what was happening and how did they treat you!? Teach them all a lesson they won't forget. As the sun dawns let it shine over a lake of blood. Snap their bones. Feast on their marrow. Scoop out their insides! You have the power. Deep inside you! They put their destruction in you!"_

Copper blood in his mouth. A dark flash. Burning afterimages. Taste of fear in the air.

"_You are better than him. You're better than them all! I can help you achieve the position you deserve, the position and the power they held back! The lock I can help you so much more…release me and together we'll rip and claw our way across the realm, offer blood and sacrifices to me! Let me out! Let me out! LET ME OUT! TURN THE DIAL TO FREE ME!"_

The screaming drowned out everything else in his head. It didn't seem like a bad idea…why didn't he do it? The voice was so persuasive…so seductive…why had he resisted for so long? He staggered back holding his head. Why shouldn't he do it? He couldn't think of any other reason not to…

But wait…what were the images? A silver haired man, a pink haired girl and a pale boy with blood in his eyes. More flashes sped past his eyes; a man in a triangular hat, a laughing white haired man, a cheeky boy, a group of bored teenagers, a red headed boy, a blond man and his red headed wife…

Why were they important?

_He is a precious comrade in arms of the Leaf and know that no Leaf shinobi will ever betray one of their own._

_You are my beloved son._

_He boasted about you a lot you know…like you were his own grandson…_

_Have faith in him…I believe he will do the right thing._

What? He knew the people…of course…they were his precious people. Why would he want to destroy that? But the voice…? Why would the voice steer him wrong?

He was missing something…something big…something important…

**Me. You're missing me.**

…_Kurama? What's going on?_

**Your idiotic mind isn't advanced enough at using my chakra…you may have lost it slightly…**

_I went through the waterfall of truth…the voice…_

**Kukuku you pathetic fool, do you really think that clearing the heart once of all darkness will keep it pure for ever? You have hatred for Kaguya, resentment for losing your world locked inside you, the visit to the waterfalls means nothing now…your darkness has changed…but if you lose yourself now then Madara will win. I will help you over him if I must! Return to yourself!**

_Yelling isn't going to help…_

**GO BACK NOW! **The roar echoed terribly in his head and his vision cleared slightly. His mind felt much clearer by far. He blinked.

Oh Kami.

What had he done? He hardly dared to look remembering what he had done before when he lost control.

"Oh good, you seem to be better." Came a lazy drawl.

"Orochimaru!" He snarled.

"Don't hold yourself back on my account; that was more interesting than I expected honestly." The damn snake sounded amused! "If you're wondering what you did…Kukukuku look around."

It looked like a wrecking site had bred unholy children with scorched hell fire.

There really were no other words for it. His breath caught in his throat.

"Sasuke and Sakura…!" He moved as if to go hunt but a hand grabbed him by the collar and shook him hard.

"Over there out cold. Couldn't have their precious gifts damaged could I?"

His blood ran cold at the casual reply. "You gave them the curse mark!" He howled, "You bastard!" He had failed! The sting of shame and anger burned in his chest.

"Kukukuku no. Sit down, shut up and listen." He was dropped unceremoniously onto a conveniently placed rock.

He jumped right back up of course ready to attack him from behind.

"Kaguya."

…...

"He's stabilising!" Came a shout from what seemed like very far away. Why did his body feel like it had been set on fire then dumped in a freezer? He moved as if to cradle is forehead and noticed several seconds later that his hand was stuck a fair few feet away…why were black rods poking his hand? Trying to move the other hand he quickly found that it was the same situation….?

A bright light flashed into his eyes and he grimaced groggily turning away.

"_Who're you?_" He forced out of numb lips.

"Pupils dilating, no sign of yellow!"

"Let me speak to him." A weary voice rasped but he could hear the faint undertones of steel. He turned his head with great effort to stare the approaching man in the face. A deceptively fierce eye glared at him from an injured man. He looked achingly familiar, like an old wound twanging well after healing.

"You've given us a lot of trouble genin."

"_Maybe I'd be less trouble if you told me who you are and what you want."_ He commented idly.

"Hmmf," A cane struck the ground with a muffled bang, "I am the defender in the dark…I am known as the War Hawk in some circles. This is also the second time I have introduced myself to you." The man's disapproval was like a warm gust on his face.

"_Heh-heh pretty titles aren't worth the air they are spoken with…tell me your name and be done with it."_

The man smirked, "Well you're not completely idiotic. I am Danzo, and you…are a security threat."

"_Well then why haven't you killed me then?" _Yurei challenged.

The man stared at him for a long uncomfortable silence, "Because you shouldn't exist. My agent told me you boasted that if you died the Jinchuuriki would take ill again…a bunshin with this sort of weakness to its originator is unacceptable."

"_That ANBU medic." _Yurei narrowed his eyes, "_He was one of yours." _

Danzo inclined his head like some great lion. "I have no intention of harming you…give us your full cooperation and you will be released."

"_Ah thing is…how many times have you made me that promise?" _Yurei narrowed his eyes, "_I can't remember the past day…what happened?"_

"You went berserk with the Kyuubi's chakra. What are you?"

"_Impossible." _He snapped, "_There is no way I went berserk after meeting you."_

Danzo raised a thin eyebrow. Yurei looked to where Danzo pointedly glanced and stared. The black lines extending from his hands didn't stop at the surface. The continued all the way through! He was pinned to the table by the metal rods…yet he didn't feel any pain. He tried to pull away but the rods were deceptively strong.

"Ah no…these are designed to filter away corrosive chakra. Something my scientists came up with." Danzo threw out casually, "I had to ram them through your hand to even make you notice you had an audience." He frowned, "Question is …why you lost control?"

"_Nii-san."_ He breathed in horror. Something had happened to Naruto and he was stuck in Root's headquarters!

Danzo's eye sharpened to flint points. "Your originator lost control? And it echoed within you…" He turned away sharply quite suddenly and began to bark orders. "We have an enraged Jinchuuriki in Konoha! Seal specialists and heavy front line combatants assemble in Hall 3A!" He looked at Yurei glaring at him from the table, "We'll keep him safe. Konoha needs the Kyuubi and there are no seal masters available to reapply the seal."

"_So if there was one you wouldn't hesitate." _Yurei rumbled grimly.

Danzo smiled a smile so sharp it would have cut through stone. "Accidents do happen genin."

"_Let me go!" _Yurei roared trying to draw upon his chakra. But it slipped away through his fingers as the rods drained it away into the atmosphere. He glanced down angrily before glaring at Danzo furiously.

"So when you die, I'll have an enraged dying Jinchuuriki to deal with? No thank you, an alive host is enough trouble. Calm down and we'll talk after I return." With that the war hawk swept from the room leaving Yurei to scream after him from his immobilised posture.

…

"What did you say?!" Naruto whispered hoarsely in shock. This was just a coincidence! Orochimaru couldn't…shouldn't know about Kaguya! He slammed down a bubble of rage at her name and focused on the matter at hand.

Orochimaru's face was pale and gaunt which added to the horror Naruto felt when he smiled and repeated.

"Kaguya."

Bloody half-moons dripped red from his palms. Was Orochimaru from the future too? Did someone else come back and tell him…or was this a result of some different result he had caused?!

"Explain." He ordered tersely.

The Sannin grinned suddenly at that, showing his slightly elongated canines. "Ah so I won't have to break your mind."

"_What._"

"Respect." Orochimaru reminded Naruto idly. Naruto gritted his teeth fighting the predominant feelings of confusion and shock.

"You're a traitor to Konoha, you've done something to my team mates and now you're babbling at me. I have no respect for you."

The Sannin frowned, "Too bad." In a flicker of white and beige he was gone. He also disappeared from his chakra senses and Naruto's eyes widened-a sledge hammer slammed into his chest as he was thrown backwards. He gasped as his air was driven out of him as he was pinned against a tree with Orochimaru's arm cutting off his air supply. Burning sensations spread from point of contact and from his chest. Then the pin point killing intent hit him. It felt like the Sannin was trying to drill a hole in his skull-Kami it was agony!

"Naruto-kun, you may be a Jinchuuriki but right now I hold every advantage. It would not be wise to push me. Now I will let go and we will have a civil conversation…and if you behave I'll even leave your team mates unharmed further." The dangerous tone slid over Naruto's skin like a light brush of a razor. "Understand?"

His chest felt like it had heavy boulders stacked on top and is vision started going blurry at the edges. He gave a very short nod and immediately the pressure on his throat eased. He fell to his knees retching as delicious air flooded his lungs.

The Sannin stood off to a side admiring the bloody sunset. The red light shone off his hair and skin and made him look quite deranged, like he bathed in arterial blood. "It is quite obvious that you too possess knowledge of what is to come."

"I do…so do you apparently."

"That is a correct assumption." Came the idle reply.

"That's why everything connected you was strange. The Wave mission movements, the sound diplomats and now with the exam." Naruto breathed sharply, "I don't understand…you could have made the perfect invasion plan, taken Sasuke, killed me…generally crippled Konoha with that knowledge…but you're telling me you remember too…?"

"Tch you think very short term. Kaguya is a threat to everyone…even me. She would take away our chakra, free will and bodies. That is not something I can tolerate…I took Sasuke kun because of his eyes but there's no point in perfecting taking the Sharingan if I lose them three years later in a war we cannot win." Yellow eyes pierced Naruto where he stood.

Was Orochimaru telling Naruto he would help Naruto? His mind short circuited, he had always associated Orochimaru as the villain in his mind; this was unbelievable. Orochimaru always lied…this was part of his plan somehow. It had to be.

"What are you saying?"

"You and Sasuke-kun are the ones who can seal Kaguya. You cannot do this alone." He said it matter of factly, "I propose a temporary alliance. I'll help you with defeating Kaguya…in return Konoha will do everything in its power to recognise Oto as a shinobi village, I will become the Otokage and my missing nin and criminal status will be revoked. I also want Uchiha Obito's eye for my own research if I am going to leave Sasuke alone…I trust that is not a problem."

Naruto gaped, "Are you insane! You're a criminal! I'm a genin! There is no way I can promise these things and even if I could that is a VERY steep price and why should I even trust you in the first place?!"

Orochimaru shrugged. "Agree, do not agree…you don't understand the concept of a shinobi war. You just see the armies marching into battle and know this...that was _not_ a shinobi war. A real war has spies, information gathering, ambushes…never front line assault in that scale. A fight with Kaguya is a fight with Madara at this moment in time and he has political players on an international scale. Mist is under his thumb. Who knows how many other war dogs he's weaselled into his pocket. _You aren't facing the Princess Kaguya alone, you're facing all her dogs too. _It wasn't a problem before because Obito was too rash and declared war too quickly. What would have happened if he hadn't and continued to make political moves? _He would have won that's what. _He had 7 biju…Konoha would declare war and the Fourth World War would have erupted _within_ the villages. Add in the Zetsus and we have a blood bath on a global scale…and how long, _how long_ could you last in those conditions?"

Naruto stared at him transfixed. "Obito would have won. Madara would have implemented Moon's eye. Kaguya would drop out of the sky and turn the world into her playground." Orochimaru continued ruthlessly, "And if we remember what happened…who else does? You need me and my village." He shrugged, "Question is do you realise how badly you need us?"

"You could be lying." Naruto whispered.

Teeth flashed, "I could be."

"You're asking me to make a deal with the devil."

**You seem to make a habit of working with demons brat.**

_Not the time for this…_

"No I'm telling you to choose between the devil you know and the demoness you hate."

"I don't have the power." Naruto didn't want to do this but that little speech had shaken him badly. If Orochimaru remembered…who else did? What did Madara remembered!? They were doomed if that happened! Otogakure and Otokage were small demands in the larger scale but Obito's eye…? Kakashi would throw a fit. Sasuke would throw a fit. EVERYONE would throw a fit at letting a known criminal have the most dangerous Sharingan ever.

"You don't have the power now." Orochimaru corrected eyes burning into Naruto's. The implication was clear.

"If Kaguya is such a threat…why do you need incentives to help?" Naruto narrowed his eyes, "The entire shinobi world is at stake and you want to make sure you get a prize at the end of it." Disgust tainted his tone.

"Tch what do I care about the shinobi world. My goals are loftier…immortality, rebirth…to live forever…to learn every jutsu in existence. I want to leap off the precipice between man and Kami! I couldn't care less what happens to trash…Kaguya is the closest thing to a Goddess we have. I will defy her to the ends of this world if only so I can get one step closer to taking her place."

"…you're throwing a hissy fit because you're not Kami and someone else is much better at it."

"…"

"One question…your plan was centred on me remembering the past. What would you have done if I hadn't?"

"Stolen your body to use as my own." Came the brutal response.

Naruto's heart hammered loudly in his chest.

"I watched you in the First exam, already things were different…You and Sasuke- Kun gave up…was that a consequence of me altering things or was that you acting of your accord I mused. I snuck away under your sensei's nose and in our fight you knew knowledge you should not have known."

"I yelled about the curse marks." Naruto said in dawning realisation.

"Exactly." Orochimaru lounged on conveniently placed rock chunk, "Still I suppose in some very small chance you might have learned about them from Anko, so the word _Kaguya _was a final test I suppose. What do you say Uzumaki Naruto? Will you take my offer or do we stand behind differing lines in the coming war?"

Naruto stared hard at the Sannin. Orochimaru couldn't be trusted at all, now he could be kept tabs upon if Naruto entered an alliance with him. He apologised silently to whoever would listen, for the first time he would have to break his ninja way. He would not, could not keep his word to Orochimaru. But he had no choice, Orochimaru was right. To face Kaguya everyone needed to work together.

In response he swung his arm up. Orochimaru clasped it, his cold fingers wrapping around Naruto's thin wrist. It felt like an inviable chain of lies and deception now tied them together.

"My team mates."

"Merely knocked out. They'll awaken in a few hours, they did see the start of your transformation so you have some explaining to do."

Naruto nodded, this was a night for revelations it seemed. It didn't faze him next to the knowledge he was allied with Orochimaru to take down Kaguya. _He was allied with Orochimaru to take down Kaguya. _There was something fundamentally broken with this world.

Orochimaru let go and walked distance away. "Next thing is to determine what we have in common so that we are the ones to remember."

"I have nothing in common with you." Came the terse reply.

Orochimaru looked at him thoughtfully, "That does seem to be true on the surface." He agreed.

"What happened to Kabuto? He was the one to bring the Edo Tensei to the war…" A prickle of anger thrummed inside him from his head to his toes. Fighting someone's own family…that was a cruel and unforgivable act.

Orochimaru smirked and Naruto felt a chill of fear and apprehension run down his spine.

"I put him in therapy." That statement did nothing to ease the ominous mood.

….

"No sign of the Jinchuuriki anywhere but the Uchiha compound has all its wards activated. It is almost a certainty he is in there."

"Can the wards be broken?"

"Not easily my lord, they are of Uzumaki make from the founding days…it is no surprise we cannot detect anything from inside them."

Danzo steepled his fingers, "Hmm the Uchihas would never keep out other Uchihas…it could be keyed to chakra signature, but then no…too much room for hostage situations. Maybe…yes…go get Hatake from the exam!"

"Hai."

…

Naruto peeled back his team mates' eyelids. No response. What was more alarming was that he couldn't feel a pulse! Hot anger bloomed in his chest. The Sannin had broken his word already! But why would he kill Sasuke? Then Kaguya couldn't be stopped…his traitorous mind supplied him with the information that Sasuke _had _killed Orochimaru and that revenge was a very real possibility. No! They couldn't be dead. He wouldn't accept it!

His hand brushed against something cold. Frowning he yanked Sasuke's collar down to reveal a long metal piece about a foot long pierced through his throat and what seemed like between the vertebrae. Relief washed over him making his knees go wobbly. He checked Sakura, she too was in the same state.

"You put them in a death's state!" He shrieked.

The Sannin stared at him like he was insane, "Your point?"

"You said you knocked them out!"

"Well they aren't getting up any time soon…far more secure this way."

"It takes a week to recover from this!"

"Better than not recovering at all." Orochimaru shrugged losing interest. It was hopeless. In his eyes he was being exceptionally lenient by not killing them.

"…Out of curiosity why didn't you give Sasuke the curse mark? Not that I'm complaining."

"I am _not_ giving an external power source to the boy who effectively killed me. Call it self-precaution."

"Not much of a Kami are you if you can be killed by him."

"_Maybe you're overlooking the fact I came back from the dead." _came a purring reply_._

"That means nothing with the rate people came back." Naruto scoffed.

Orochimaru's mouth twisted, "Do you see me flaking and enthralled to some arrogant cur?"

Naruto smirked, "Says the man who was led around by my team mate until he dropped you."

The temperature dropped rapidly and the cold touched the back of his neck.

"You ungrateful little…if it wasn't for _me_ your team mate would have defected from the village and died a few weeks into the wild." Orochimaru hissed venomously, "I taught him all that he knew, I theorised with him about how to use his powers, I trained with him to make him stronger so I could have a worthy vessel. At one point he stopped being my future vessel and became _my student._ There is no greater honour for a student than to help his master achieve greatness. There is no greater honour for a master to see his student do great things."

Orochimaru's eyes were glittering topazes and they gleamed in the shadowy field against his bone white face.

"You killed your teacher." Naruto pointed out abruptly.

"I was a terrible student." The Sannin shrugged, the cold receding. Suddenly his head lifted sharply and he huffed slightly in amusement. "Oh your sensei is _very_ good."

"Kakashi's coming?! I can't-"

"You wouldn't." Orochimaru cut in smoothly. He shifted slightly, lean muscles rippling under his thin frame. "I suggest we appear to have a disagreement."

Naruto grinned viciously, "No problem with me."

He leapt at Orochimaru intent on hitting him in the face but the Sannin neatly sidestepped and delivered a brutal blow at his solar plexus…which dispelled the bunshin. Two other Narutos henged back from flying insects and came from the back and front at the Sanin's knees. Orochimaru jumped back and caught one in the head with a kick to the crown. It dispelled obscuring the other clone. Where was the real one? Naruto leapt on the Nin's back and attempted to brain him with a kunai. Ah there he was. The kunai split Orochimaru's head and the clone exploded with a sound of a hydraulic whip snapping. Naruto was thrown clear, he wiped the blood running down his face…the fire from before fanned to a great height above the field, dangerously close to his team mates he noticed with alarm.

_Water dragon. _A very big, very angry water dragon smashed into the scene from nowhere. Water went everywhere as the rushing claws and fangs snapped at a wide eyed Orochimaru. It was easily the size of the field and where on earth had Kakashi found that much water near here? The fires went out instantly and Naruto was swept off his feet by the force of the water barrelling into him. Earth ripped up under the watery claws and the dragon roared; a curious gurgling scream, like a death cry.

Wow Kakashi was _pissed._

An iron grip settled around the back of his collar and he was dragged out spluttering.

"_This is why I cannot leave you to your own devices." _Kakashi's voice snapped like a whip crack in his ear. "Why did I get the recklessly suicidal team?!"

"Sensei!" He wheezed. Kakashi loomed over him radiating disapproval and fury.

"I'll deal with you three later. _Stay out of it. _I mean it Naruto." A flicker. He was gone.

Sasuke and Sakura reappeared a second later with a vaguely Kakashi shaped shadow. He caught them hurriedly before all the action jostled the senbon into a fatal position.

A fair distance away the entire field went up in blinding blue and yellow light. Wood chips exploded, rocks shattered Naruto felt the kinetic force from he grabbed his team and hid behind a low stone wall. A monstrous hissing could be heard as a snake the size of the Hokage Mountain emerged from the fire. Oh Kami! Fortunately Kakashi had experience in fighting monsters far bigger than him!

A whistling noise split the air. Three sprays of blood bloomed like morbid flowers from the white scales. The snake hissed angrily and struck so fast it became a blur. Its head cracked the field down to the foundations in a ground shaking boom but Kakashi had leapt and was running up the side in a navy and silver flash. Leaping over the main coil he and Orochimaru met in a clash of ringing steel. Bloodlust and Killing Intent overflowed from the fight forcing Naruto to blink away dark and bright afterimages on his vison and regulate his breathing.

The taijutsu battle was too fast for Naruto's eyes to pick out at a distance. All he could see was twisting colours and sounds of steel clashing off steel. Was that the flash of a sword? Kakashi jumped back incredibly fast as streak of steel shot across the sky. A flock of birds took off shrieking as their nest was pierced by six inches of cold steel.

Kusanagi pierced anything in its path. Orochimaru wielded it like an expert, slashing and twirling while changing the length of the blade so Kakashi couldn't afford to stay at close range anymore!

"Give yourself up!" Kakashi's voice was like cold iron, "We have the compound surrounded. You cannot get away."

"I do think." Orochimaru's voice was equally hard, "That you give me too little credit."

…

"Danzo-sama! We have a situation! Orochimaru has infiltrated the Uchiha compound! Kakashi and Team 7 engaged him in combat but the genin are now relieved of the fight!"

Danzo swore viciously, "Damn the Uchiha! If only we could pass…Team 7 will all be killed without backup. Kakashi's good but not Sannin level. This means the Jinchuuriki lost control fighting him…acceptable I suppose. Intelligence, how did he get in?!"

"We're on it Danzo-sama, but Orochimaru anticipated us!"

"If Orochimaru has a Sharingan to bypass the defences…" The sentence trailed off.

"If the wards are still up considering Kakashi is there that means the Uchiha is incapacitated. They are on their own unless there's anyone in the village with enough security clearance with the Uchihas to go through."

"All the higher nin do." Danzo barked, "But these are siege wards. Only Uchiha can pass now…why would Sasuke do this?"

"The Uchiha _can't _put up siege wards…only the head of the Uchiha can do that. That's Itachi…even though he's a criminal. The wards were put there by Orochimaru."

Danzo swore again, "What else can he do if he can reapply clan secrets?!"

"Wait! Anyone in the wards can come out." A ROOT agent watching closely shouted, "Look at the birds!"

"This means if one of the genin is still conscious he or she can get the other two to safety." Danzo mused, "Notify the Hokage…tell him the Snake Sannin is back and inform him of the situation. Now!"

"Danzo-sama…"

"What?"

"The bunshin. We can send him as a scout inside…if the Jinchuuriki lost control already it's a bad situation anyway, the risk of the bunshin popping and sending the Jinchuuriki to a near death is relatively low compared to them all dying by Orochimaru's hand."

"…Good woman. You heard her! Bring that bunshin here, explain it to him first!"

**What do you think of Orochimaru and the plot twist I hurled your way?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and my plans are all failing miserably so far *sigh. Let me know what you think, I promise no heart attacks this time. Well….I could be lying. ;)**

_You're joking. _Yurei deadpanned.

The ROOT agent shook his head. "I am completely serious Bunshin kun."

_Yurei. If you insist on calling me something, call me that._

"I am to take you to Danzo-sama immediately to assist in the recovery of Team 7."

_He's such an idiot. _Yurei groaned. _How did Orochimaru manage to evade the entire ANBU and corner one team without anyone noticing?_

The agent was silent. "We need to hurry."

_Don't think I have to worry about that really. _Yurei commented idly as the agent's grip tightened and they leapt down in front of the Uchiha compound entrance. He was pretty sure this was not in Naruto's memories…brilliant. His time to shine.

"Ah you're here, and fully briefed I assume?" Danzo's tone barked from where he was surrounded by schematics.

_I am._

"You are aware of the mission objectives?"

_To retrieve any injured personnel and to use the Kyuubi's power to stall Orochimaru until a suitable plan is devised. _Yurei rattled off. _But the last part is a terrible plan. Without proper control using the Kyuubi's power is very unsafe and unwise._

"We have no choice until the wards are broken from the outside." Danzo barked. "You are a military might of Konoha. This is what you live for."

Yurei gritted his teeth but sketched a bow to show he understood.

"Take these." Danzo passed him a walkie-talkie. "Keep strict contact with us. Only exception is if you lose control. Now go!"

Yurei nodded and sprang through the gates into the abandoned compound. Smoke and thunderous crashings rose in a pillar in the middle of the compound. _Stay alive until I reach you. _He prayed.

"What are we coming to that we have to entrust this task to a genin?" A ROOT agent murmured.

…###########################...

Naruto panted as he lowered Sakura and Sasuke after haphazardly trying to run in a straight line. It hadn't quite succeeded and he had ended up crashing into trees and buildings every ten seconds.

CRACK.

Lightning struck the area where the two shinobi were fighting in an ear splitting roar. That was probably Kakashi he reckoned. That hissing was Orochimaru…was that the sound of a blade? He was at a loss. Orochimaru who was now a tentative ally and Kakashi who was a definite ally was facing off in what seemed like a duel to the death. He bit his lip. _He had to do something. _But first he had to get his team mates out of the danger zon-

A blur sped past him.

It promptly skidded to a stop and Naruto had his second heart attack of the evening.

"Yurei?!"

_Ni-san. Long-time no see._

"Where have you been?!"

Yurei hopped over some debris. _I was taken by Danzo, the ROOT got wind of me and weren't happy. They sent me in to get you out before you all die._

Naruto pulled him to the side and whispered in his ear. "Orochimaru is an ally for the minute. Do _not _trust him much though."

Yurei stared at him like he was insane, _Hasn't Kyuubi broken the genjutsu on you yet? That's not like him._

"It's not a genjutsu." Naruto said grimly, "I wish it was but he remembers! I had no choice but to ally with him."

_It's one of those grey choices isn't it? _Yurei's eyes flashed. _I'll take Sakura. Explain on the way. Head for the main gate._

Naruto and Yurei picked up the unconscious genin and flashed away towards the gate.

…..################################...

There was a fifty foot wide smoking crater where the field had been. Of course two ninjutsu specialists clashing would be devastating Kakashi thought grimly but he hadn't expected this much damage! He sprang out of the way of a concentrated burst of fire. It wasn't going well. Orochimaru was one of the Sannin and was quite clearly in a league above Kakashi.

"Tell me Kakashi-kun." Orochimaru's eyes were yellow slits of dark amusement, "Do you plan to die here against me?"

"I won't be the one dying today." Kakashi snapped back.

The Sannin shrugged, "You might want to reconsider that Kakashi-kun. In these wards no one can back you up…and you're not selfish enough to retreat without knowing your team is safe. Your own virtues of courage, determination and loyalty to the village is what will kill you now…Don't delude yourself. You're smarter than that. _You cannot win against me._"

"I can injure you." Kakashi returned evenly, "Dying here against one of the Leaf's greatest criminals is not a bad death. You may win against me but you've lost in the long run. You cannot escape Konoha now!"

Orochimaru held up a long finger, "Conjecture Kakashi-kun…"

"What?" Kakashi narrowed his eye.

Orochimaru held up one blinking device from his back pocket in response. Kakashi's eye widened then narrowed.

"Of course. You're too cunning to walk into a trap without setting the field first."

A smirk tugged at the Sannin's mouth. "My? My? So glad to have your respect at last."

"What are your terms?" Kakashi bit out.

"I walk out."

"That's it?" Came a disbelieving reply.

"Your senpai is generous, no?"

"What proof do I have that you are not bluffing me?"

"Do you wish for me paint the sky in fire?" a dangerous tone crept into Orochimaru's voice.

"I can call your bluff right now." Kakashi returned in a very bored voice, "Your disguise on that discarded body is of a Grass Genin in the Chunin exams. Before this morning all foreigners have been under a strict watch and since the exam started I have had my eyes on the entire hall. The only chance you could have to plant something was when the second exam started and you went off our radars. However judging by the timescale of which you confronted my team you would have had a few minutes between each event. Now…I think that's enough of a margin for me to be suitably suspicious of your bluff. What do _you_ think?"

….######################################...

"Danzo sama! Hatake san is engaging in conversation with Orochimaru and apparently he has bombs planted in the village. Judging from Hatake-san's analysis the bombs are either at the hotel, academy or the Forest of Death!"

"Sweep those places." Barked Danzo, "The Forest will be a problem. The exam is still going on, no?"

"Hai." A masked ANBU operative dropped silently into their midst, "Mitarashi-san has assumed control of the second examinations and it is proceeding as planned. Horse and Rat are sweeping for the Grass team as we speak." The ANBU nodded his head at Danzo, "The Hokage sends his compliments for acting so decisively."

Danzo glared at the ANBU. "Contact Horse and Rat. Tell them about the potential bomb situation."

"As you wish." The tone was clinical and it gave away no hints to what the ANBU agent was thinking.

"Danzo-sama! We have contact with Team 7. The bunshin found the Jinchuuriki and the other two are in a false death situation."

"False Death?" Danzo's face wrinkled into a frown. "Why would Orochimaru bother keeping them alive in False Death?"

"Maybe you have a _network _of spies to find out? Tending the ground for results is such a useful pastime." Faint mockery tainted the ANBU's tone.

"Enough." Danzo flicked his concentration to his ROOT agent.

"Is he bringing them here?"

"It appears so Danzo-sama."

"Good." Danzo gripped his cane tighter, "When is Hiruzen getting here? A master and student reunion is a joyous time to cherish." His mouth twisted into a slash of a smile.

…#############################...

_That is insane. _Yurei commented dully. _Absolutely insane. You have to depend on him now?!_

"Yes…and I'm assuming he has a plan to get out of here without killing half of ROOT." Naruto whispered back.

_I wouldn't put it past him. You've made a deal with the devil! _

"Yeah well, I didn't have much of a choice."

_It'll bring change alright. _Yurei said thoughtfully, _what happens now? There won't be an invasion. Jiji won't die. Tsunade won't need to be recalled. This is a huge change! We need Tsunade Aniki. _

"I'm tempted to think the change will be good." Naruto smiled without humour, "That we can congratulate ourselves on a victory. But somehow I get the feeling this is only the calm before a storm."

_It's a chilling thought. If you and Orochimaru remember, who else does? Somehow the forest doesn't seem so safe anymore; the shadows hide assassins and every rustle is a footfall. _

"I suppose we'll have to look into space-time research." Naruto sighed, "What factors are involved and so on."

_It's the exact inverse of Dad's Hiraishin. He connected two space co-ordinates in the space-time plane and jumped the area between them which was time. You somehow connected two time-co-ordinates and jumped the area between them which was space. _Yurei shifted Sakura on his shoulder.

Naruto shot him a look.

_I was very bored in prison._

"That does make sense but no one knows how to do Hiraishin anymore."

_Maybe Dad did it?_

"I don't know…I don't think he was near me at that point." Naruto cocked his head, "I don't even know if the Hiraishin seal on me was intact or not at that point."

_Strange…Now act like you just had the fight of your life._

"I just had the fright of my life. Will that do?"

The two of them came to a halt just stopping short of crossing the boundary. Yurei shot Naruto a smirk.

"Good to see we still think alike."

"Uzumaki-kun…and Bu-Uzumaki-kun. Pass us Uchiha-kun and Haruno-kun."

_Take them. _Muttered Yurei gratefully. Naruto kicked him lightly.

A ROOT agent carefully took Sasuke and Sakura in a bridesmaid's hold. "We will start treatment straightaway." A woman's voice spoke formally, "Return to your mission…Uzumaki-san brief Uzumaki-san on the way."

"I already know." Naruto cut in. "Can I talk to Danzo-san?"

"Danzo-dono to you."

"Leave it Mimichi." A familiar voice came from the left. "What is it Genin?" Danzo leant on his cane looking as haggard as ever.

Naruto's lip curled slightly, "You kidnapped my brother."

"I took in your clone for questioning." Danzo returned evenly. Naruto's fists clenched.

"I understand why you did it…but no more. Yurei stays with me."

"Prove your loyalty." Danzo shrugged, his eye razor sharp, "Anything can happen."

"I already used Kyuubi against Orochimaru." Naruto continued as if he hadn't heard Danzo, "It had some effect but we're too inexperienced in utilising biju chakra to be of much help."

"You're not a very good Jinchuuriki then are you?"

"You can deal with having the Fox God sealed in your stomach then."

There was nothing at Danzo's side. Danzo opened his mouth. Hiruzen clapped his shoulder from Danzo's left. Everyone froze in shock.

"Well done Danzo. Now you said my wayward student was causing trouble?" A gleam in the Hokage's eye promised a lot of grief and pain to whoever got in his way. The scary thing was, there was no spiritual pressure. It was as if the most powerful shinobi in the village just wasn't there. Naruto scanned Hiruzen.

_Nice armour Jiji. _Yurei grinned.

"It's a lot more than nice Naruto." There was a certain shark like quality to the Hokage's smile.

_Yurei._

"Hmm?"

_He's Naruto, I'm Yurei. It's a very long story._

"Well then as soon as I've got rid of this pest, you can sit down with me and chat over ramen. How does that sound?"

"Brilliant!"

_Fantastic!_

"There's a problem Hiruzen." Danzo sounded like it was a regular occurrence to have a problem.

Hiruzen sighed, "There always is. What is it this time?"

Danzo jabbed a thumb at the compound, "Siege wards. As of now those two genin are the only ones free to move in and out freely."

Yurei and Naruto froze as the Hokage and Danzo turned to them in unison with glittering eyes.

"Hmm is it linked to blood or chakra?" Hiruzen muttered.

"Well it's linked to the Sharingan. Those two can do it because they were already in when the wards went up."

"That makes sense…can we take some cells from Sasuke-kun's eye?"

"I knew there was a reason you were Hokage."

…..##########################...

"Your call Kakashi-kun." The dangerous tone was gone and amused indulgence replaced it. "I don't particularly care who lives and who has their brains blown out."

"But you lose your trump card." Kakashi returned, "You will definitely be apprehended."

"You can guess what you might lose." Orochimaru smirked, "It increases the horror does it not?"

Kakashi gritted his teeth, his ploy to reveal the bombs' location had failed.

"Go on. Talk to the relevant people."

Kakashi gave. "Sir. I have the terms." He spoke into his receiver. "He wants to walk out. Nothing more…I see…understood. Yes, yes agreed."

Orochimaru watched him critically. "Your jacket needs replacing."

"That's because you threw me into a tree." Kakashi hissed before returning to his conversation.

"Work on your stamina exercises Kakashi-kun, they're just above average for a Jonin."

"You _are not _my sensei."

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong. I'm just keeping an eye out for my team mate's grand student."

"_Stop._"

"You should always listen to your senpai after every practice match." Orochimaru chided with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"This is not a practise match!"

The Sannin shrugged, "If you say so."

…##############################...

"Why are you two following us?" Danzo asked at last as Hiruzen and Danzo sped across the Uchiha compound.

"Kakashi sensei might be in trouble." Naruto protested, "And you two will be too busy to help him."

"Ahh let them come." Hiruzen sighed, "Neither of them will give up."

"You cannot be serious Hiruzen! Taking genin into a fight between a Sannin and a Kage?"

"_I'll rip his wings off mid-flight._ No one will be in any danger."

Danzo glared at all of them before giving up. "If he dies, I choose the next Jinchuuriki candidate."

_Can we not talk about us dying? Please?_

….#########################...

"What's your answer Kakashi-kun?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to answer before both Shinobi froze and turned just in time to see the Hokage jump into the crater in a blur. Danzo landed in a crouch beside him glowering. And two Narutos skated down the side of the crater behind Kakashi.

"Thought I told you to leave it?" Kakashi's voice was deathly calm.

"We came to rescue you…"

"Does it look like I need rescuing brat? Yurei…you have awful timing."

_Sorry Sensei. Here soldier pill. _Kakashi accepted the pill and felt some of his strength return.

"Orochimaru." A glacial tone cut the tension. "I think I remember telling you it was execution if you ever came back."

"Nice to see you too sensei." Orochimaru smiled. Everybody went on edge, Orochimaru smiling was not good. "Nuh-uh. Don't move any of you." He held the blinking device in his outstretched hand and flicked it. The beeping got more rapid. Everyone froze in horror.

No. He wasn't bluffing…But if Orochimaru blew up Konoha, he must have known it would damage his alliance with Naruto. Sharp intakes of breath could be heard.

"It's primed to go off in ten minutes. 600 seconds…and the clock's ticking down. Now you can't find and deactivate all of them in that time, I guarantee it. I'm holding your precious village hostage and by Kami I will not hesitate to do it."

"What do you want?" Danzo barked.

"I want to walk out of here."

"_Why _did you even come? What was your objective?" Hiruzen demanded. Time was running out fast.

"Kukukuku well…answering every mystery takes the spice out of life."

"How do we know the bombs will be deactivated after you walk out?" Kakashi asked sharply, "I am not so keen to take a criminal's word on this." Naruto's hair was plastered against his neck with sweat.

"This is the main controller, it tells you where all the bombs are. Now…hmm eight minutes left."

The Hokage and Danzo looked at each other.

"I wanted a fight."

"So did I."

"Very well Orochimaru. You may go." The Hokage was clearly speaking through gritted teeth, "Controller…now." He had no choice. He couldn't risk so many potential victims over this!

The Sannin laughed, "You know me better than that sensei. Ja ne." Poof. He shunshinned out leaving a cloud of smoke.

"If he could do that in the first place?!"

_Why did he even bother confronting you and giving up his bombs!?_

Naruto and Yurei screamed after a stunned second.

Danzo poked the dropped controller with his cane. "Hiruzen…"

"Don't tell me…"

"Take another genin team. I hate to say this but Orochimaru is magnificent when he wants to be."

Kakashi sighed, "That's a fake controller isn't it?"

"Utterly. Hold on…" Danzo scooped up the controller. "There's a message on the screen." He put the screen close to his face then grunted as the timer stopped at 6 minutes and a hypothermic needle shot out at his eye. A wind blade sliced it in half before it even reached halfway.

"He really is too slippery for words!" The Hokage snarled. Kakashi stopped any further talk by abruptly collapsing in his position overcome by exhaustion and chakra exhaustion.

"Sensei!"

_Sensei!_

…..#########################...

Naruto and Yurei sat in front of the Hokage in the tent ROOT had thrown up in seconds.

"Your entire team will be incapacitated for at least a week. I suggest you train on your own for a while." Hiruzen frowned at a schematic of the city. "Do you remember seeing the Grass Nin in the Chunin exams Naruto?"

"Yes…he…she had a team then too."

"Grass is an ally of ours." Danzo murmured lowly to Hiruzen, "I don't believe they'd betray us this easily."

"I don't think so either." Hiruzen rested his head on his hand, "I think that team was ambushed. You saw the report didn't you?"

"Yes, Mitarashi clarified it was a specialty of his."

"So question is when did he do it?" Hiruzen murmured out loud, "Was there really a Grass girl or was that him from the start?"

"Orochimaru ripped that girl's face off. Does that mean it was his body to begin with?" Naruto questioned.

"Not quite." Danzo said idly, "There are medical techniques for grafting skin…"

"But time is the deciding factor in all the theories."

Danzo stared at Hiruzen, "You know _someone _should let their parents know. I mean it was a _terrible _incident."

"I agree." A smirk tugged at Hiruzen's lips. "Very _humane _of you Danzo. But…it would be too …cruel to tell them by messenger post. I say we send someone with the bodies."

Danzo rubbed his jawline, "But gee we've just had an infiltration. Who could we send? We need maximum security here after all."

Yurei and Naruto exchanged exasperated glances. What was it with higher Nin and mind games with genin?

"Not to mention identity theft is a serious issue." How were they sounding so serious?

_We'll do it. _Snapped Yurei. _Kami, jonin and their games. Just tell us straight._

"Genin aren't allowed to take missions alone." Danzo drawled wickedly, "Though we appreciate the sentiment."

"Well I suppose we could practise our pranking skills for a week." Naruto shrugged, "I mean there's two of us for ideas now."

Hiruzen's smile grew strained.

"Unless…" Naruto trailed off, "There's another agent free to make up the trio?"

"There are no genin free." Hiruzen murmured eyes sharp.

_Who said we were talking about genin? _Yurei half smiled.

"Oh if possible, can they specialise in ink fuinjutsu?" Naruto asked, "We'll need someone competent to seal the bodies." Both of them smiled pleasantly up at the amused Nin.

"You little brats." Danzo said half approvingly. "Yes I'll lend you one of mine."

"Watch their reactions." Hiruzen said more seriously, "Memorise their responses. And form your own judgement."

"Isn't this a bit high a level to give to genin?" Naruto frowned.

"It is." Danzo agreed, "My agent will be Jonin level to make up for you two."

"This is a secret mission you two. Not even Kakashi can be told without my permission, is that clear?" Hiruzen warned.

"Hai."

_Hai._

"Very well. I promised a ramen night didn't I? And you can explain…your situation." The Hokage stretched and climbed out of his chair, "We'll talk later Danzo. And do something about the highly illegal group prancing about under the Hokage's nose. It's not very becoming of shinobi." Danzo's chuckles followed them out.

…##########################...

"Split personality disorder?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow and split his chopsticks.

_Yes. _Said Yurei with a completely straight face.

"Of course Jiji. What other explanation could there be for one of my bunshins to suddenly develop his own conscience?" Naruto shrugged.

"…so I haven't got a mentally unstable Jinchuuriki running around?"

…..#######################...

Anko burst into the Jonin haunt. "Where the hell is Cyclops? He can't just dump me with double work and expect to get away with it!"

Asuma looked up from a Shogi match with Kurenai. "Don't know. Don't care. Good bye."

"Shouldn't you be actually doing the work?" Ibiki commented casually from a corner.

"I will." Snapped Anko, "In a minute. As soon as I find him!"

"I think you'll do something else if you do find him." Kurenai snarked lightly looking up from her game, "Good hunting Anko-chan."

"This isn't right." Genma slid into a seat next to Anko, "Pretty women working so much and so late. Let me buy you a drink to help you cope?"

She sneered, "I'd rather drink from Hatake's skull at this minute."

"I bet you that when you cut his head open there's going to be porn carved on the inside." Kurenai curled up on her couch.

"Better than the empty space in yours." Asuma scolded, "You're slower than Shikamaru. A genin!"

"That's the Nara right? Shikaku's kid?" Ibiki folded his paper and lumbered over to observe the game.

Anko rolled his eyes, "I think they drilled comradeship a bit too much in him. He actually used his shadow to keep some Hyuuga chick in the exam from another team!"

Kurenai smiled, "Looks like both of our teams have issues."

"His has more." Anko pointed to Asuma who looked up with a vague expression of surprise. "That blonde chick did something. Kept someone else from dropping out."

Genma narrowed his eyes, "Loyalty is all well and good but you can't be so picky in those situations. What have you been teaching them Asuma?"

Bless him Asuma actually looked lost. "Ino kept someone in?" He repeated in disbelief. "She hates nearly everyone in the other teams…and Kakashi's kids were gone by then."

"Crush?" Genma shrugged, "Cute girls draw my sympathy too. It's instinct."

Ibiki shot him a look, "Kakashi's kids were gone by then." He repeated.

"What?" Genma's brows furrowed then he burst out laughing, "Lucky kid. Hadn't realised it was that bad."

…..#########################...

"Hey Yurei."

_Hmm?_

Naruto and Yurei sprawled over their futons on the apartment floor. It was a deceptively cool night and there was no cloud cover.

"Why do you think Orochimaru even bothered with us? I mean all he has to do is take out Obito at this stage and the entire thing stops."

…_I don't know._

….##########################...

_Roughly around six in the morning the next day._

_Go away. _Yurei mumbled as something cold and wet touched his cheek. Curling into a ball he attempted to turn away from whatever it was.

"Stop it Yurei." Slurred Naruto as his feet were suddenly cold and wet.

Both of them heard each other. Both of them froze.

Both of them leapt at the same time so their blankets fluttered to the ground behind them and they crashed into something cold, wet and sticky. In their sleepy state all they saw was a mass of black before it exploded and everything was splattered with it.

Naruto spat some out. "Ink."

_Uggh come on…_Yurei tried to brush the ink off himself but only ended up making it worse.

"SAI! You'd better come out right now!"

_SAI! Get here right now! _They roared.

"Hmm interesting. While your awareness is terrible, your information gathering skills are beyond what I expected." Sai dropped onto their window ledge and gave them an incredibly fake smile.

Naruto gritted his teeth, he knew why they hadn't sensed Sai or even reacted. He was too used to having Sai as a friend and now it didn't even mark on his radar anymore.

"Well now I know how much I have to look after you two pricks." Sai's eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Bastard." Naruto rolled his eyes. He was not responding to Sai the same way again. It would be fun to confuse him for once. "Close the window, it's cold and it's six. Go away or come in."

A glint of confusion showed in Sai's eyes but he dropped silently into the apartment.

"Genin could break through your traps." He commented in that infuriating tone of his.

_That was rather the point. _Yurei yawned halfway through his mocking statement. _How were we to know what level of incompetency you are at? Now that you're here…_

Naruto stretched, "We'll put them back up. Was the wakeup call really necessary?"

"It was to gauge your fighting ability." Sai mused looking at the splatters where his ink animals had been. "All it did was measure how deeply you sleep."

_Oh Haha._

"That ink better come out." Naruto glared at Sai who nodded calmly.

"It'll come out on its own in a while…we should get started while we can."

_I'm using the shower. _Yurei stalked off.

Naruto grinned minutely and shoved a scroll they had been working on last night at Sai. "Here Taichou. Familiarise yourself with this."

Sai caught it easily and glanced down at the scroll. "Ahh…maybe you aren't as big of useless burdens as I thought. Taichou?"

Naruto twitched but he forced his smile to not break. "Would you prefer Sai?"

"Taichou is fine."

"Sai it is then. Help yourself to food. We'll be back in a bit." Naruto walked off into another room smirking at the thought of Sai's face.

…..###########################...

"Do you have so little balls that your toys have to make up for them?" Sai asked idly as Naruto and Yurei stocked up on their explosives.

_I think something got lost in the translation. _Yurei imitated an explosion with fluttering fingers. _Explosions are manly. Uber manly. So manly you can wear pink and pigtails and still put the fear of Kami in a person._

"Are you sure that's not the thought of you in pink and pigtails that puts the fear of Kami into a person?" It sounded like a joke. Both of them knew better. "Do I need to worry why there's two of you?"

"No. Yurei can you last?"

_Yeah, Danzo poured pure wind into me and that should keep me going for a while. _

"Hurry up girls and we can pick up the bodies before it's too late for a discreet exit." Sai interrupted.

"We're done. We're done."

All three of them disappeared in a blur.

…############################...

Sai, Naruto and Yurei leapt down in front of the Village centre.

"Team 7.1?"

"7.1?" Naruto mouthed at Yurei who shrugged.

"Hai." Sai wheeled to face the masked ANBU. They all knew they were only able to see the ANBU because the ANBU wanted them to. "I am acting Taichou for the squad."

The ANBU held out a sealed scroll. "You know your orders." The tone was clinical and devoid of all emotion. The scary thing was unlike ROOT they could turn it off in a blink. So people had no idea who was ANBU and who wasn't. The secret police really lived up to their name.

Sai accepted the scroll and slid it into a pouch on his leg.

"Move out team."

…..#######################...

Their meeting with Sai had gone _much _better than the first time Naruto thought satisfied. This time he didn't have the same feelings of having an intruder in the squad and he had the advantage of being mostly immune to Sai's barbs.

"When do you ladies need a break?" came a question from a front.

_We are not ladies. _Yurei yelled back.

"Well you have no balls so ladies seems an accurate description."

_Don't smile as you're mocking us!_

"But smiling is a necessary component for teams to bond and have maximum efficiency."

"You can't learn human interaction from a book." Naruto inputted, "Smiles are more than just stretching your lips."

"...Is that so? I don't think I ever mentioned a book…Naruto-kun."

_You said it yourself. _Yurei sounded so bored. _Information gathering._

"So I did." Sai turned and smiled, "So I did." A chill ran down both the brother's spines as the smile faded.

They ran the next few miles in silence, jumping from tree to tree like ghostly blurs.

…######################...

Suddenly Sai held up a closed fist. The universal sign to stop. Yurei and Naruto crouched below him on another branch. An expanse of long grass waved out beneath them in the wind. They had reached the boundary.

"What's wrong?"

"Your map. It's drastically different to what the layout is."

_What? _Yurei frowned. _That's not right. _All of them jumped down and to their surprise the ground was further down that they had expected.

"Exactly." Sai raised an eyebrow.

"Wait." Naruto rubbed his jaw, "Taki is one of the few villages never to be conquered…what if it's something to do with where it's placed?"

"What do you mean?" Sai narrowed his eyes.

"Look behind you." Naruto stared him dead in the eyes.

_Oh Kami. _Foliage created a solid barrier behind them. Fire country was now completely blocked to them. Even Sai's eyes went wide.

"Village hidden in the Grass." Naruto quoted disgruntled. "If they can change the bloody layout of the land, no wonder they could never be found and overrun."

_Well how are we meant to get there? _Yurei pointed at the grass. _The grass is taller than us! And if the map's useless…_

The grass made eerie noises as the stalks rubbed against one another. It was like standing in a yellow and green sea.

"We're going to get lost very easily." Sai narrowed his eyes, "And I don't think they'd appreciate it if we burned a way through. So…" He turned to Naruto. "Ball of wool please."

Naruto quickly formed a clone and henged into a ball of wool. Sai took it and tied the end to one of the branches on a tree.

_Not a bad idea. _Yurei looked half impressed.

"Well you ladies weren't going to think of it." Sai shrugged, "Keep up." He plunged into the grass. It closed up after him leaving no trace Sai had even been there.

"Wait!"

_Wait!_

Naruto and Yurei took off after him at a run.

Whisper.

Whisper_._

_What's that?_

"What's what?"

_The noise!_

Whisper.

Whisper.

"That's the sound of wind in the grass." Sai shouted from up ahead.

Whisper.

Naruto shoved grass out of his way with a crack. "There's no way we're going to find Kusa like this. Let's just let off a flare and let them find us."

…_We brought flares?_

"An explosion then."

"We are _not_ trying to start a war." Sai sighed. "Hold on. You two have chakra sense. _Use it._"

"Ohhh Kusa has Chomei don't they?" Naruto smacked his head, "Hold on I can do this."

"Did you forget to mention you have a pen pal in Kusa?" Sai deadpanned, "You're so useless."

_Not a pen pal. _Yurei burst out laughing. _Definitely not a pen pal._

**Did he just call my brother a pen pal? What is a pen pal?**

_I don't think you want to know Kurama. Can you feel Chomei?_

**I can.**

_Can you tell me?_

**If you punch the weapon yes.**

_Sai?_

**Yes.**

_Okay…_

"Hey Sai." Naruto smiled pleasantly.

Sai stopped and turned to face Naruto, "Hmm?" Next second he was sent flying as Naruto's fist connected with his jaw. Kami that felt good.

"Ahh you tricked me with your smile." Sai rubbed his jaw, "That use of smiling I did not know. I'll forgive you for teaching me something new." He dusted himself off and glared. "Have I offended you?"

"No, that was the price for the way to Kusa." Naruto said apologetically.

"Huh?"

Yurei tapped his stomach and flapped his hands like wings and held up seven fingers behind Naruto's back.

"Ahh." Sai did not look pleased, "Continue I suppose."

_Kurama?_

**You could have hit him harder…**

_You only asked me to hit him. You never said how hard. Can you lead us to Chomei?_

**Why not. That punch was amusing. Be warned brat, it'll be the direct route, I can't help it if there's a river or a mountain in the way.**

_We can only see grass for miles. No mountains near here._

**It was an example brat! Chomei is directly North-North-East to you.**

_Can you tell distance?_

**A very large distance. Now go away, I've helped you enough.**

Naruto shook his head, rolled his eyes and pointed in the correct direction. "That way. Apparently a very long way away."

_Well no one said it would be easy. _Yurei sighed.

…..###########################...

Three hours later.

"This is slightly unexpected." Sai commented, "I had not thought Grass was this big."

Yurei stopped and groaned very loudly. _Guys Chomei is in Taki…not Kusa. We're heading the wrong way!_

Naruto froze and smacked his forehead. Sai closed his eyes as if praying for patience.

"I reiterate my words about you two being useless."

"Hey…wait! Incoming! Very fast from the left!"

All three of them whipped out kunai and dropped into ready positions. A girl crashed into where they were a few seconds later. A girl with mint green hair. The most startling thing was the two glittering insect wings protruding from her back. And the fact she was seven feet off the ground.

"Sooo intruders huh?" The girl placed her hands on her hips. "Any last words?"

Naruto's jaw flapped open.

_Shouldn't you be in Taki? _Yurei picked his jaw off the ground.

"Very good eyes." The girl complimented, "But you will not interrupt the joint training under any cost!"

"We're from Konoha and we need to see your leader flying girl." Sai said bluntly.

The girl stopped dead and narrowed her eyes, "Well you have the headbands. But they could be stolen…"

"Ahem." Naruto coughed and released just the tiniest bit of Kyuubi's chakra. The girl's eyes went wide then impossibly gleeful. She held up a fist and green chakra coated it.

"You're both Jinchuuriki." Sai groaned. "I thought the wings were a bloodline."

*She's the one you called Chomei?* He tapped using his leg. Yurei was in his line of vision and Yurei nodded once slowly.

"Nanabi, you?" The girl dropped to her feet in front of them, her wings folding into her back.

"Kyuubi. I won't tell if you won't."

"So you are telling the truth that you're from Konoha." The girl mused, "Hmm…why are you here?"

_We can't go around telling every foot soldier what we're up to. _Yurei cut in idly.

The girl's eyes flashed. "I can decide to just leave you here and you'll never find your way in."

"We can't tell you." Sai said bluntly, "But it's an order straight from the Hokage flying girl."

"Fu!" She snapped.

"Fu-san whatever."

*We are extremely lucky* Naruto tapped.

*Tell me about it*

*You two are brainless idiots*

"Stop tapping." Fu cried, "It's not subtle at all!" She crossed her arms, "I'll take you to Kusa's leader and wash my hands of you." She glared at the boys, "Well keep up."

…..###############################...

Fu floated overhead on her wings.

"Fu!" Naruto called, "If there's a joint training exercise going on, why are you outside?"

She sent back a look full of disbelief, "Are you insane? Jinchuuriki are single unit combatants. Otherwise allies get caught up in the crossfire."

_Do you not have a team? _Yurei asked.

"I have minders, does that count?"

"That's quite sad." Naruto frowned.

Fu snorted, "Sad…hah. I think Konoha dropped their Jinchuuriki on the head."

"No, the fact you're going through life without a team to call your family is sad. Can I help?"

Fu stopped dead in mid-air then hastily moved again to stop herself falling.

"Concentrate on your troubles first." She said gruffly, "Our lives are rarely happy."

"I want to change it." Naruto smiled up at the sky, "My dream is to create a world where everyone will get along regardless of village or power."

Fu was silent. "…If you can get the Tsuchikage to back the Hokage on a matter then I will agree your dream is possible." She said slowly. "Until then you're just a brat with a talent for speeches."

Yurei noticed that she didn't look any of them in the eye as she said it though. Sai sighed from the front. He was probably confused why Fu was so touched.

….##############################...

"Rakeshi-san" Fu called out suddenly. "You have guests from Konoha."

_There's no one on my radar…_

Sai looked around at the sea of grass.

"Look down." Coughed Fu. Angry chattering came from their feet. As one the three shinobi looked down and stared.

A large wheat coloured mouse twitched its nose straight back in reply.

"Hello." Naruto said faintly.

Chitter chatter. The mouse wound around their feet.

_Is he a summon animal? _Yurei asked in interest.

"Yes." Fu dropped from the sky, "Kusa have held the mouse contract for generations."

**THEY DON'T SMELL OF THE HARVEST. **The three shinobi startled slightly. The deep voice coming from the mouse was a bit disconcerting.

Sai raised an eyebrow. "We _are_ fire shinobi Rakeshi-san."

**YOU SMELL OF PARCHMENT AND INK. **The mouse hissed. **CITRUS AND SMOKE. YOUR NAME IS AN APT ONE CHILD. YES…I WILL LET YOU PASS.**

Rakeshi scurried over to Yurei and Naruto. **AND WHY DOES A CHILD WITH HARVEST HAIR SMELL OF THE FOX LORD? BLOOD, FIRE AND HATRED ARE HIS REALM…CHILD OR CHILDREN…**

"We're Jinchuuriki." Naruto answered.

The mouse cocked its head. **THREE PRISONS CONVERGE IN THE GRASS. PREDATORS AND PREY ARE GIVEN SHELTER BY THE GRASS ALIKE…YES I WILL NOT OBSTRUCT YOU THIS TIME.**

Before they could ask what the mouse meant Rakeshi had blurred and bitten all of them painfully in the hand.

"Oww."

_Hey…_

Sai just hissed the pain away.

"You cannot pass into Kusa without Rakeshi's agreement." Fu elaborated, "There's a very elaborate genjutsu and fuinjutsu laid over the village."

Beneath their feet the ground dropped away. Kusa opened up under them and their eyes went wide.

"That's an impressive genjutsu." Sai commented.

"It is." Fu grinned.

Yurei looked for Rakeshi but the mouse was gone.

Woven buildings twinkled under them with the multi-coloured lanterns floating in the breeze. Kusa was a spiralling town, there was only one road and that led inwards to the tightest packed area.

_I guess we found where we need to go. _Yurei looked down at the congregations of shinobi laughing at the street curves.

"Kusagakure." Fu murmured, "The Village hidden in the Grass. Masters of the Whispering Sea. Bastion of the devil's field. The last true hidden village. Welcome shinobi of the leaf."

**Reviews are love ^.^**


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